Undying Will
by Archontruth
Summary: Meeting by chance at the crossroads between life and death, Kushina Uzumaki and Lily Potter hatch a daring plan to ensure their sons don't grow up alone.
1. Meeting at the Crossroads

Chapter One: Meeting at the Crossroads

* * *

Lily Potter walked through featureless mists for she knew not how long. She was aware of other people on the path around her, visible only as dark outlines in the fog. _Where am I?_ The thought was dull; muted. Lily's mind felt like it was wrapped in cotton. She walked on, unsure why she was doing so.

Gradually the concealing mists thinned, and Lily could see a ring of bright, shining light ahead of her; its radiance made the others trudging down the path little more than shadows. One after another they stepped into the light. When it was her turn Lily entered. Space, time and identity collapsed around her.

 _Avada Kedavra!_

Lily gasped as she took her next step, her feet falling on smooth stone. "James! Harry!" She staggered and fell to her knees, feeling the echo of pain radiating outward across her chest from the point where Voldemort's killing curse had struck her.

"Easy, Lily; it's all behind you now."

Gentle hands caught Lily under the arm and helped her to her feet. She turned to see who was speaking, and found herself looking into the wrinkled, bearded face of a familiar old man. "Professor Dumbledore?" Lily murmured, confused.

The ancient wizard shook his head as he helped Lily take a few faltering steps off of the cobblestone path, settling her onto a bench flanked by some shrubs. "No, Lily, I'm sorry. I tend to take on the appearance of one familiar to the dead. My true appearance alarms most."

 _Dead_. "I'm dead," Lily sighed, the memories coming back. She and James had fought Voldemort, but they'd never really stood a chance. No one but Dumbledore did. She'd fallen to a killing curse, and the last thing she'd seen was… "Harry!" She stood up like a shot. "He's in danger!"

Lily took a step toward the ring of light she'd emerged from, but Dumbledore grabbed her arm in an iron grip. "You cannot return, Lily," he said firmly. "None pass through my gate twice."

"But my son-"

"Harry Potter is alive and well," Dumbledore replied. "He will not pass through my gate for many years."

Lily felt a bit of relief, but some urgency still gripped her. "Still, he'll be alone. I have to be there for him!"

Dumbledore only gave her a sad, sympathetic look. "You cannot return, Lily. None pass through my gate twice. Only one path from this point is open to you." He pointed to the stony trail behind her. "James is waiting for you, Lily. You'll be together, and happy, and when your son breathes his last with friends and family around him, he'll join you in time. You will see him again."

Lily studied Dumbledore, and saw something ageless behind those kind eyes. Thinking for a moment, she finally understood. "You're Death," she whispered. "Creator of the Hallows."

"I am," Dumbledore replied. "Take the path, Lily. Go to your hereafter."

Lily shook her head firmly. "I won't," she growled. "Harry still needs me." Pushing past him, she walked into the ring of light – or tried to. An invisible barrier blocked her way. Lily pounded on it with her fists, but made no headway. Feeling the weight of her wand in the dueling holster at her wrist, Lily stepped back and drew the wooden rod. "Bombarda Maxima!" The resulting explosion was strong enough to push her back a pace, but it deflected off of whatever was protecting the gateway between life and death.

Dumbledore watched calmly. "It's no use, Lily. No amount of power will allow you to pass through that gate again."

Lily tried every spell she could think of to batter down, dispel or circumvent the barrier keeping her from reaching Harry. It was no use, however, and when she was too tired to cast another spell, Lily had to admit defeat. "Please," she begged of Dumbledore. "Let me go back."

"No one returns, Lily," Dumbledore insisted. "Go to your fate. Go to James."

Feeling tears threaten, Lily angrily wiped them away. Her heart ached for her son, but she was smart enough to understand that she wasn't going to get back to Harry remaining near the gate; she needed to look for options elsewhere. She sheathed her wand and with one last angry look at Dumbledore, she headed down the path. It soon ended at a broad boulevard, on which walked many people, some familiar-looking, others strange. There were even odd figures that didn't look like people at all.

As she set off down the main road Lily noticed that many of the other travelers faded away after a few minutes. _Maybe they disappear once they accept the inevitable?_ Lily thought. _Well I'm not quite ready to give up._ Walking a bit further, Lily started to see other small paths meeting up with the broader one she was on.

Curious, Lily diverted down another path that was only a dirt road through towering, primeval trees. She hadn't walked far before she heard loud noises: grinding of stone, crackling of flame and more. Cautiously she continued, and saw something interesting. There was another ring of light here and apparently someone else who wasn't going to stroll peacefully into the afterlife.

A woman with hair that was actually crimson red rather than Lily's orange was attacking the barrier over this new gate. She struck it with her fist and Lily felt the vibration of the impact through the earth. The other woman followed that up with a blast of fire from her mouth that set several trees around the gate alight, but didn't scratch the barrier.

"Kushina, this is not a matter of power. You cannot pass through my gate a second time." Those words came from an older woman whose tresses were the same crimson hue under an elaborate headdress, and whose angular features bore a resemblance to the one trying to break down the gate. Both women wore archaic-looking martial uniforms. Lily watched from behind a tree as 'Kushina' kept up her assault, stomping down a foot and making the ground produce a wide spur of rock that shattered on striking the gate.

"Like hell I'll leave my son alone," Kushina shouted defiantly. "Naruto needs me! Damn you Mito, let me pass!"

Lily felt a surge of sympathy for the stranger. _She's a kindred spirit; someone else in my situation._ Lily's eyes widened as glowing chains erupted from Kushina's back and wrapped around the gate, applying constrictive force to no avail. Mito merely sighed. Eventually the chains faded and Kushina dropped to a knee, panting and sweating.

"Now do you believe me, dear? You cannot pass through my gate twice. Go to your fate. Minato is waiting for you."

Lily's eyes narrowed. _'You cannot pass through my gate twice.'_ Four times in the last few minutes she'd heard those exact same words, from Dumbledore and now from Mito. A thought occurred to her, and before the wisdom of revealing herself could give her doubt, Lily stepped out from behind her tree and approached the new gate. "Excuse me," she said politely to Mito.

"Yes?" The regal woman replied.

"Could I pass through your gate?" Lily asked.

Mito looked thunderstruck. "What? This is not your world!"

"I gathered that," Lily said patiently. "Nonetheless, would you allow me to pass through?"

Mito blinked, looking thoughtful. "I don't see why not," she said slowly, "if you're truly so reckless."

Kushina's face turned almost as red as her hair. "What?" she screeched. "You'll let some total stranger who isn't even from the Elemental Nations go through, but not me?"

Mito's expression became stony. "You cannot-"

"-pass through her gate twice," Lily finished the sentence. "Yes, the guardian of my world's gate said the same thing." Thinking quickly now, she turned to Kushina, offering a friendly smile. "My name's Lily. Lily Potter. I think we might be able to help one another."

Kushina blinked, looking faintly embarrassed in the wake of her outburst. "Sorry. I'm Kushina Uzumaki; it's a pleasure to meet you, but what are you talking about?"

"I couldn't help but overhear some of your words," Lily apologized. "I gather that you and your husband died, leaving a child behind?"

Kushina's face fell. "…yes. Well, Minato's my boyfriend, but we did die and now our son doesn't have anyone. We don't really have any extended family to take him in." She gave Lily a suspicious look. "Why does it matter?"

"Because my husband and I are dead too, and my son Harry is in the same situation." Lily made a face at the reminder that she did have relatives, but they were Muggles of a moderately horrid variety. There was no way her friends in the Wizarding World would allow Harry to wind up with _them_.

Kushina's expression became sympathetic. "I see; I'm sorry to hear that." She paused. "How do you think we can help- oh." Kushina's eyes lit up as she understood, and she turned to Mito. "Could I go through the gate back to Lily's world?"

Mito looked a bit annoyed, but shrugged. "I can't imagine why you'd want to, but there's nothing metaphysically stopping you." She looked at the pair crossly. "You do understand the eventual consequence of what you're talking about? If you," she pointed at Lily, "step through my gate, you'll enter the Elemental Nations, but you'll be alive again."

"That's the idea," Lily murmured.

"Don't interrupt," Mito said sternly. "If you pass through my gate the wrong way, you won't be able to return here when you do eventually die again."

A chill ran down Lily's spine. "Then… I would be a ghost?"

Mito shook her head. "Worse. Your soul will be trapped between life and death. Do you recall the trackless mists you traversed before the gate?" Lily nodded. "You will be bound to that place again, but without a gate to bring you here. Souls trapped in that limbo sometimes find their way to their afterlife without a guide… but only after many long years of wandering. Others cannot find their way out, and simply _cease to exist_." Mito's eyes narrowed. "That is the fate to which you consign yourself if you step through my gate."

Lily considered that and shuddered. It didn't sound pleasant at all. "If it means my son won't be alone, I'd risk it."

"It's an interesting idea," Kushina ventured, "but we don't know each other. Why would you trust me to care for your son? For that matter, why should I trust you?"

"I think we're alike," Lily replied firmly. "I think we're both willing to do whatever it takes to protect our sons. If I can't go to Harry and you can't go to Naruto, then why not trade places? As to knowing each other… that can be fixed."

Lily drew her wand, and Kushina studied it curiously. She looked suitably impressed when Lily conjured a stone basin filled with water at waist height between them. "That wasn't ninjutsu," Kushina noted. "You barely have any chakra."

Lily blinked. "Such odd terms; is that the name for what you were doing to the gate?" Kushina nodded. "Well this is my wand, and this," she gestured to the basin, "is magic. If you're willing, there's a way we can share our memories with each other. It will be useful if we are to attempt this, and it will allow both of us to know the other thoroughly before we make this pact."

Kushina considered that before nodding. "All right; what do I do?"

"Stand still," Lily murmured. She touched her wand to the other woman's temple and watched Kushina suppress a flinch as the wand's tip drew away multitudinous strands of silver. Lily deposited the thick cluster in the basin before repeating the motion at her own temple. When her memories had joined Kushina's in the basin and the water shone with argent light she conjured two cups and handed one to Kushina. "To view memories we need only submerge our faces in the basin, but to gain them permanently, we must drink. It will be disorienting and uncomfortable."

"Whatever it takes," Kushina replied, not hesitating to dip her cup into the glowing water. She drank quickly. Lily did the same, and grimaced as decades of alien memories poured into her skull. The headache was remarkably painful, but she endured. Kushina staggered but recovered quickly. New knowledge shone behind her eyes.

"You are a good person," both Lily and Kushina said at the exact same time. Lily laughed, while Kushina cracked a smile. The kunoichi – that word now had meaning in Lily's mind – extended her hand over the now-empty basin. "To care for each other's sons, until death finds us again?"

Lily clasped that callused hand firmly and nodded. "Until death," she echoed. "Now let's go make sure Dumbledore is going to allow you to pass through his gate."

Dumbledore was as startled at the idea as Mito had been, but had no objection to it. He gave Kushina the same warning, that when she died again her soul would be trapped in limbo and might fade into oblivion. The warning didn't dissuade Kushina any more than it had Lily.

"Give Naruto my love," Kushina said to Lily in parting.

"Give mine to Harry," Lily replied.

Kushina smiled, nodded, and then took a step back into the gate leading to Earth, vanishing into the light without a trace. Lily wasted no time returning to the gate in the forest leading to the curiously named Elemental Nations. Mito watched her calmly, but said nothing as Lily stepped into the light. A growing roar filled Lily Potter's ears, and a sensation of rapid movement.


	2. Lily in Konoha

Chapter Two: Lily in Konoha

* * *

Lily Potter decided pretty quickly that she didn't like the matron of Konoha's orphanage at all.

"Are you really sure you want to adopt _him_?" The plump, graying old woman asked for the third time, her dark eyes filled with actual loathing as she glared at the blue-eyed baby boy in Lily's arms, who was smiling and cooing as he played with the tips of her long, bright pink hair.

"I do," Lily affirmed again.

"But…" the matron sputtered, "you must… don't you know about the… complications with that boy?"

Lily's eyes narrowed. She'd felt some outrage on Kushina's behalf at the ridiculous 'secret law' that prevented anyone talking about Naruto inheriting his mother's burden, the demon sealed inside of him. "I am aware of Naruto's unique status, and it does not concern me greatly. This is an orphanage, correct?" Lily said sharply. "Naruto here is an orphan. I would like to adopt him. I have the means to provide for him, as I have already proven to the village magistrate who signed the adoption papers. What is the complication here?"

The matron's mouth opened and closed a few times. "Look, just do your job and sign the papers," Lily growled at the older woman. Something in her firm gaze must have convinced the matron, because she looked away, muttering under her breath as she signed in the indicated box, completing the paperwork that would make Naruto Lily's legally adopted son. "Thank you," she said with false politeness, heading out the door.

Outside of the orphanage, Lily saw what she was expecting to: two men wearing masks carved with animal faces – shinobi of ANBU – waiting for her. One was a silver-haired youth wearing a dog mask, the other a tall, muscular man with black hair whose mask was rather bird-like.

"You are Lily Haruno," the taller of the pair said. Her first name came out as 'Riri'. In the realm of the dead Lily and Kushina had been able to understand each other perfectly, but while Kushina's memories allowed her to speak the main language of the Elemental Nations, it didn't fix the problem of words from her own language – like her name – sounding rather odd.

"That's right," Lily replied calmly.

It was still strange to hear that last name, for all that she'd 'acquired' it months ago. After arriving in Konoha her first task had been building an identity that would stand up to the scrutiny that someone wishing to adopt a jinchuuriki would be subjected to. Lily had decided that the Haruno family, an apolitical band of merchants with few shinobi ties, would be her cover. A simple spell had changed her hair color from orange to bubblegum pink, and judicious use of memory charms on the Haruno themselves had cemented her place as one of their number from birth.

The same spells – more carefully applied – at the village's archives had prompted a hapless secretary to file away 'misplaced' residency papers for Lily indicating that she'd been born and raised in Konoha. She'd even magically aged the paper to match the other records it was inserted into.

"Would you come with us please," the older ANBU asked politely. "The Hokage would like a moment of your time."

"The Hokage? Me? Are you sure there hasn't been a mistake?" Lily asked breathlessly, feigning surprise and shock. It was somewhat akin to an ordinary witch being summoned before the Minister of Magic, as things in Konoha went.

The ANBU grunted. "No mistake. This way, please."

Lily and her minders waited almost an hour in the foyer of the Hokage's Tower before being summoned to the village leader's presence. Fortunately, Lily had gone to the orphanage with a baby bag, so she was able to change and feed her infant charge while waiting. Naruto was sleeping in her arms when Lily was called into a large, airy room with numerous open windows. She took an offered seat and found herself looking across a wide desk at an old man in elaborate robes and a wide, peaked hat. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage.

Hiruzen shuffled through some papers before deigning to look up at her. "Lily Haruno," he grumbled.

"That's my name," Lily replied anxiously, "I mean, yes sir, Hokage, sir."

Hiruzen actually smiled a bit, taking a puff of his pipe before speaking again. "Please don't be nervous, Ms. Haruno. You're not in any trouble. In truth, I merely wanted to thank you for making such a selfless choice, taking an orphan from the recent tragedy into your home, especially after your own losses."

Lily's green eyes widened. "Oh. Oh my, well… thank you." A mournful look crossed Lily's face for a moment.

Hiruzen coughed into his fist. "I apologize; I've dredged up unpleasant memories, haven't I?"

"Oh, no," Lily replied breathily. "Well… losing my husband and my baby still hurts, but I try not to dwell on it. I'd rather do something constructive, like give a good home to a little boy who's lost just as much." Manufacturing fake deaths for an imaginary husband and child had been surprisingly easy. In the wake of the devastation that had claimed Kushina's life as well as countless others, casualty lists had been erratically maintained. She'd gone so far as to take the rather ghoulish step of creating two fresh graves with headstones and conjured bodies, just in case someone decided to check up on her that thoroughly.

"It warms my heart to hear it," Hiruzen said. "Now I have to ask, rude as it may be… why would you, a woman who lost so much to the Kyuubi, want to adopt the bijuu's vessel?"

Lily looked down at the sleeping baby in her arms, and then back at the Hokage. "Look at him," she said. "Naruto's not a monster, he's a baby! Everyone here lost something to the Kyuubi's attack, but none of that is Naruto's fault. His existence protects us from further loss! I'd have to be foolish and irrational indeed to blame him for that. Regardless of what some fools out there whisper to each other," she directed a harsh look out the window to the village spread out below them.

Hiruzen leaned back in his seat, and Lily could see him relax a bit at the sincerity of her words. "I trust you understand and will abide by the laws regarding young Naruto?"

Lily nodded. "I understand that Naruto's… status makes him important to Konoha's security, and I'm not allowed to take him outside of the village without informing your office ahead of time. That doesn't bother me. This village is my home too; I wouldn't want to raise a son anywhere else." She paused. "As to the 'secret law', I won't tell him about being a jinchuuriki before he's old enough to understand and accept it. To do so would only hurt him."

"And when he is of age to enter the Academy?" Hiruzen inquired delicately.

Lily frowned a bit at that. "I'm not crazy about my son becoming a shinobi; it's dangerous, violent work… and if you'll forgive me for saying so, I think there are better uses of one's life than being a blade for hire."

That aspect of life in Konoha – the creation of what amounted to supernaturally gifted child soldiers – truly bothered Lily, but with Kushina's memories as a buffer she understood that it was simply the way shinobi villages worked. "That said, I understand that being a jinchuuriki means Naruto will have to learn to defend himself at the very least. Entering the Shinobi Academy will be his choice when he's older; I won't attempt to discourage him, but I won't compel him to become a shinobi, either. Neither, I hope, would anyone else in this village."

Hiruzen relaxed a bit. "That's more than fair… and no offense taken." He smiled slightly. "Believe me, I wish my profession wasn't necessary." Lily could tell that Hiruzen expected Naruto to become a shinobi regardless of her feelings.

As they had been talking, Lily noticed one of the attendants in the room – a tall young man with blond hair in a ponytail – gazing at her intently. She also felt a subtle, slippery psychic probe intrude on the edge of her mind. She was a skilled enough occlumens to prevent the intrusion, but that wasn't the point here. Allaying suspicion was, so Lily let that probe slide into her mind, and then employed a lifetime of mental discipline and training to submerge herself in the identity of 'Lily Haruno', letting the persona she'd constructed become her whole truth. For several minutes Lily Potter faded into the darkest recesses of her mind where the blond shinobi wouldn't even notice her.

Eventually the mental pressure vanished, and Lily eased back into herself. She saw the blond give the Hokage a subtle nod. Hiruzen rose to his feet, and Lily did the same. "Well I won't keep you any longer Ms. Haruno. Do let me know if there's anything I can do for you or young Naruto there."

 _Stay out of my way while I give this poor boy the loving home he deserves,_ Lily thought silently while managing a respectful nod of her head. "Of course sir; it's been an honor meeting you." She breathed a quiet sigh of relief as she was escorted out of the tower; without all of her prep work and Kushina's memories, she knew that allaying the suspicions of a man as shrewd as Hiruzen Sarutobi would have been much harder.


	3. Kushina in London

Chapter Three: Kushina in London

* * *

On a certain morning at 4 Privet Drive, Vernon and Petunia Dursley awoke to discover that their infant nephew was missing. The constabulary was called and an investigation conducted. A locked window on the top floor was found cleverly picked, though the means by which the kidnapper had reached said window remained unclear.

On the whole, the Dursleys felt a measure of relief. Their son Dudley was safe, and they'd never wanted Harry Potter around in the first place.

Parallel to the Muggle investigation, a number of wizards and witches entered the house, walking unseen past the non-magical folk. They were quite keen to discover what had happened to young Harry, but they found no more evidence than the Muggle police had.

A day after the report of the abduction, a worried Albus Dumbledore was contemplating the worst possibilities as he stood in the room with Harry's empty crib. It was then that he noticed something the aurors who came before had missed; a faint shimmer on the wall above the doorframe. A silent motion of his wand dispelled a rather unusual illusion that held no trace of actual magic he could detect. Dumbledore's brow furrowed at that realization, as well as what was revealed. A white envelope was pinned above the doorframe by a large metal needle of all things, and 'A.D.' was stenciled on the front.

Another flick of the wand brought the envelope down to him, and after more spell work to ensure that no traps awaited, Albus opened the letter and read its contents with growing dismay.

 _Professor Dumbledore,_

 _Rest assured that young Harry Potter is quite safe. None of his family's enemies has found him, nor will they. I have removed him from this clearly unfit home and taken him into my care as per the wishes of his late mother, Lily Potter. Harry will be shielded by my hand, and will be raised as his mother and father would have wished._

 _Per Lily's instructions, I will allow an owl from Hogwarts to find Harry and deliver his letter on his twelfth birthday. Do not attempt to locate him before then. I will not differentiate between light wizards and dark if any come looking for my ward._

 _Sincerely,_

 _K.U._

By the time he was done reading, Dumbledore felt slightly sick. He could feel the blood wards Lily's death had created slowly fading, and since none of _his_ wards or detection spells had been triggered by whoever had taken Harry, he worried that finding the boy might be difficult indeed.

No sooner had Dumbledore popped one of his favorite hard candies in his mouth to soothe his stomach than an auror apparated into the room. "Professor Dumbledore," the slender woman exclaimed, "there has been an escape from Azkaban!"

 _Yes, this is going to be one of those days,_ Dumbledore decided as his stomach soured further.

* * *

 _Hours Earlier_

Sirius Black was trying to hold onto hope, but there wasn't much to be had in Azkaban, or in general. Lily and James were dead, and it was his fault for telling them to trust Peter Pettigrew. Worse, all of magical Britain believed he'd betrayed them and killed aurors sent to arrest him. He tried to remind himself that Voldemort was beaten and young Harry alive, but that was a faint thread to cling to and the aura of the dementors ate away at it by the hour.

It was late at night and pouring rain outside the tiny barred window to Sirius' cell when he heard a woman's voice. "Are you Sirius Black?"

Scrabbling to his feet, Sirius crossed the room to the window. He knew there was a sheer wall outside above and below with a ten story drop to jagged rocks and a raging ocean, so he was shocked to see a face on the other side of the bars. There was a woman clinging to the smooth and wet rock somehow, her body and face shrouded in dark cloth. Piercing blue eyes were the only visible feature he could see. "I must be losing my mind already," Sirius murmured to himself.

Those blue eyes crinkled in an amused look. "No, this is quite real Mr. Black."

"Who are you?" Sirius blurted out.

"I'm the executor of Lily Potter's last wishes; my name is Kushina," the masked woman replied promptly, sending a shock through Sirius.

"What?" He demanded. He knew all of Lily's friends, and none of them had eyes and a voice like this woman's.

"Look, I don't have a lot of time before those disgusting constructs wander this way again," Kushina said. "I came out to this _lovely_ place because some things don't add up. Everyone seems to think that you betrayed Lily and James' location to this 'Voldemort' character, but I know for a fact you weren't their secret keeper; you didn't have the information to give. So where is Pettigrew?"

Sirius' shoulders sagged in relief and regret combined. "Finally, someone who will believe me, even if it is a very strange stranger." He took a breath. "Peter is dead; he killed those Aurors before I killed him. _He_ was a Death Eater, and he betrayed Lily and James." Sirius looked away, self-disgust welling up. "It's still my fault, though. I suggested to them that they make Peter the secret keeper instead of me. Would that I'd just said yes; they'd still be alive."

"No way to know that," the woman outside said immediately, her tone compassionate. "Now stand back; my earth ninjutsu's never been very precise."

Sirius retreated from the window, blinking in confusion at Kushina's strange words. She gripped one of the bars and started pulling. Sirius wasn't sure what was going on until he felt the whole cell start to shake. A moment later cracks ran up and down the wall around the window. Kushina kept pulling, and abruptly the window as well as half the cell wall flew free, plummeting toward the sea below.

"Take my hand," Kushina said, still clinging to the wall outside. Sirius stepped forward and complied, wincing as he heard the _boom_ of the wall section hitting the surf below, loud even over the storm lashing at Azkaban.

Kushina wrapped her arm around Sirius' waist with surprising strength and began to climb. Her fingers and toes stuck to the slick wall like a gecko's pads, and she made quick progress in spite of being burdened by the weight of a man larger than herself. "How strong are you?" Sirius exclaimed.

"Not as strong as I was," Kushina replied ruefully, "but strong enough."

"Not to sound ungrateful for the rescue, but the dementors are coming," Sirius announced after looking down and seeing black shadows flying up from the levels below, "and I'm reasonably certain they'll kill me for escaping my cell."

Kushina simply jumped up the last few stories, landing on the roof and depositing Sirius on his feet gently. "Here," she murmured, pressing into Sirius' hands a leather sheath with a familiar weight of wood.

"My wand?" Sirius exclaimed as he wrapped the dueling holster around his forearm and drew the familiar rod. "How did you-?"

"I'm a kunoichi; getting into secure places unseen is what I do," Kushina replied with a shrug. Then her blue eyes widened and she yanked Sirius to the side. "Watch it," she called out before lunging past him.

Sirius turned in alarm to see a dementor flying towards them. Before he could even think about casting a spell Kushina's hand opened and a swirling, _howling_ sphere of bluish-white light appeared in her palm. She thrust it into the dementor's hooded face with ruthless force, and the creature's startled wail cut off abruptly as its ghastly form shredded and faded away under the force of that light.

"What was that?" Sirius exclaimed.

"It's called a rasengan," Kushina shrugged. "Oh dear that's a lot of them," she added, looking back at the direction she'd come from. "We need to get out of here. Harry's waiting." Turning again, Sirius could see more than a dozen dementors rise over the rooftop's edge.

"Harry's safe?" Sirius demanded, feeling his spirits lift.

"Safe and sound; I've already liberated him from Lily's horrid sister."

"Best news I've heard in a long time," Sirius said with a grin. He thought about the one and only time he'd gotten to hold his godson in his arms, imagined being able to do it again, and raised his wand. "Expecto Patronum!"

A gamboling, frisking dog of white light leapt from the tip of Sirius' wand, bounding around the pair before charging the dementors. The explosion of white light when it struck them sent the dementors flying off the rooftop and over the sea.

No sooner were the dementors banished than Sirius heard the slam of the rooftop's door opening. Aurors quickly emerged with wands drawn. He absently flicked away their first few offensive spells and sent annoying but non-lethal jinxes winging back in retaliation. "So what's the next step in our escape? I can't hold these fellows off forever."

"I _may_ have planted some explosives around what looked like the ward stones preventing apparition," Kushina replied innocently. "The timers should be burning down any second-" the whole building shook slightly, and Sirius heard a muffled blast from the floors below, "-now."

Sirius laughed as he felt the dampening blanket of magic that blocked teleportation over Azkaban fade away. "Well that works," he replied with a grin. Sirius took Kushina's hand, deflected the last few spells cast by the staggered aurors across the rooftop, and then apparated both of them far, far away from the accursed prison.


	4. Chance Encounter

_Author's Note: I've never gotten a response to a new story like this one before. My poor inbox got flooded! Glad that so many people like the story. I'll be trying to release short chapters in pairs going forward, at least for the time being. Enjoy!_

Chapter Four: Chance Encounter

* * *

"Naruto, should you be climbing on that?" Lily Potter asked absently without raising her eyes from the book she was reading.

"Umm… no?" Naruto's reply was tentative.

"No," Lily said firmly. "What have I told you a dozen times about the ladders in the library?"

"They're not toys," Naruto said with a hint of sulk in his voice. Frowning, Lily marked her place and turned around. He had only made it a few rungs up the ladder, and now he sat there with his arms across his tiny chest, pouting. It was so damned _cute_ that Lily couldn't maintain her scowl. "It's so _boring_ here, mom," Naruto complained.

Lily glanced at the child-sized bean bag near her table, where a few picture books were strewn about. "Did you finish all of those already?"

"They're _boring_ ," Naruto repeated. Lily suppressed a sigh; he'd only learned that word recently, and already she was occasionally tempted to excise it from his memory. She'd have pegged the young jinchuuriki as hyperactive without Kushina's knowledge that children of shinobi were always little bundles of squirm. It was a side effect of high chakra levels in an immature body. "When can we go to the park?"

"Soon, Naruto," Lily assured him. "If those books aren't interesting enough, how about you come over here and read mine with me?" Turning her chair around, she patted her lap.

A smile brightened Naruto's face. He clambered down from his perch and approached Lily on sturdy little legs. She lifted him up into her lap before turning back to her work. The book she was studying was well beyond his comprehension level, but it did have colorful illustrations that occupied his eyes for a while.

"Mom, what's spe-cial he-re?" Naruto asked eventually.

Lily tousled his hair encouragingly. "You read that? Good job! It's pronounced 'spatial theory', sweetie." She pointed to a word on the next line. "What does that one say?"

"Hy-po-the-sis?" Naruto sounded the word out. "What is it?" he asked, craning his neck back to look up at her from his perch on her lap.

Lily thought about how to explain it for a moment. "A theory is a rule about the natural world that's been proven – at least mostly. A hypothesis is an idea that someone thinks might be true, but they can't prove yet." She paused. "Does that make any sense, sweetie?"

Naruto shook his head. "…not really."

"That's okay," Lily said with a smile. "I'm struggling with some of it too. Maybe you can explain it to me when you're older." She glanced back at the children's corner. "I'm almost done here, so why don't you grab that book on the shelf about the hungry little caterpillar?" Naruto groaned, but slid down from her lap and returned to his bean bag, freeing Lily to take some more notes before turning the page.

The last five years since adopting Naruto had been busy for Lily. She was raising a child on her own while fulfilling the duties of her cover as a cog in the engine of the Haruno mercantile conglomerate. That job at least didn't take as long as her new relatives thought. Lily cheated in subtle ways quite freely, enchanting pens to write contracts on their own and charming filing cabinets to keep themselves perfectly in order when no one was looking. That gave her a bit of time to work on other projects.

One such project was an investigation of where all the magic in the Elemental Nations had gone to. Oh, the shinobi had souls overflowing with chakra, a form of energy unknown on Earth. But in five years Lily hadn't encountered a single person with a magical core to their soul like hers. Statistically, based on population, several witches or wizards should have appeared in Konoha by now. Yet the detection spells she'd set up around the hospital remained silent, reporting not a single magical birth.

That investigation was merely a personal curiosity. More urgent to Lily - and the reason for her current research - was trying to find a way to pierce the barrier between worlds, now that she knew more than one existed. Kushina was a capable and caring person, but it would set Lily's mind at ease to be able to communicate with the other woman, or at least scry locations on Earth to make sure Harry was safe. Unfortunately she'd had no luck so far at crafting a spell to bridge the gulf between worlds.

Lily had discovered early on in her research that science in the Elemental Nations was both more and less advanced than on Earth. She supposed that a pureblood would have disdained the knowledge of this world entirely since none of it was magical, but Lily had been raised by Muggles and was more pragmatic. All knowledge was power.

It frustrated Lily a bit that shinobi possessed of bountiful chakra and unusual physical traits that gave them extraordinary potential as researchers mostly used those gifts to fight. The Hyuuga and Uchiha clans had eyes that could penetrate layers of reality, and all they did with that ability was come up with more effective ways to kill each other!

Lily was sufficiently absorbed with her research and musings that she didn't notice at first that Naruto had gotten bored with sitting still again. Obedient to the letter of her prohibition if not the spirit he forewent the ladder and simply used the shelves themselves to climb.

Lily's focus was broken when she head a book hit the floor loudly. Turning around, she was alarmed to see her son clinging like a monkey to the highest shelves, some six meters above the floor. In an attempt to reach the top shelf he'd knocked down a book perched there. "Naruto!" Lily cried out.

Several things happened at once. Naruto lost his grip, and his foot slipped on the polished wood. He started to topple out and then down. Lily twisted her wrist and let her wand fall from her sleeve into her hand, preparing a silent Leviosa charm. She also caught movement from the corner of her eye as someone walked around the stacks and into view.

Lily's wand was already in motion when the new arrival flickered across the intervening distance in an instant. She had the brief impression of a tall, muscular, dark-skinned man with white cornrows and a goatee. He wore pale shinobi armor and more blades than he had hands sheathed across his back.

The stranger caught Naruto in one hand well above the floor with effortless grace. "Hey now, kiddo, don't go scaring your mom like that," he chided the wide-eyed blond boy as he set him on the floor.

Naruto scampered into Lily's arms as she slipped her wand back into the concealed sheath in her sleeve. Naruto's rescuer wore dark glasses, so she wasn't sure if he'd seen it. "Don't you ever scare me like that again, young man!" Lily scolded Naruto. "There's a reason I tell you not to climb the shelves! You could have cracked your skull open falling from up there!"

A suitably chastened Naruto buried his face in her shoulder. "Sorry, mom," he murmured, sniffling.

Holding Naruto in one arm, Lily extended her free hand to his shinobi rescuer. "Thank you so much for catching him, Mr.…?" With more time to examine him, she noticed that his metal forehead protector bore not Konoha's spiraled leaf, but a pair of rather abstract-looking clouds. _He's a foreign shinobi, then, and walking the village openly. There's a story here, I bet._

"The name's B." His broad hand engulfed hers, and Lily's eyes widened fractionally. _This_ man had a magical core! Lily could feel it through his skin, slumbering fitfully. It seemed he'd never tapped its power, but it was there, undeniably.

"My name is Lily. Lily Haruno," she replied. As he released her hand he looked down. He seemed to notice that she wore no ring, and when his gaze rose again, she thought she detected more personal interest than she'd seen before. "It's a lucky thing you were here," she added a trifle breathily. He wasn't a bad-looking man, and it had been five years since her magical core had touched another. She could feel it beating faster along with her heart. A moment later she felt a surge of guilt, thinking of James. She still missed her husband, though time had stolen away the pain and immediacy of losing him.

"Glad to be of service," B said. He stiffened and turned slightly then, a second before a uniformed Konoha shinobi rounded the corner.

"Ambassador B, the meeting between the Raikage and Hokage will begin soon. Your presence is requested."

B looked puzzled as he studied the pair. "Wasn't scheduled to start for another hour," he replied.

"Nonetheless, would you please come with me?"

The Leaf ninja's gaze darted to Lily and Naruto for a moment, and understanding crossed B's features. "Oh, I see. One of them is banned from foreign contact." B shrugged. "Well, we're not here to make waves. It was nice to meet you… Lily." B's voice was a pleasant, almost musical bass, and the last word was practically a caress.

Lily suppressed a shiver. "Likewise, B." The towering man allowed himself to be shepherded out of the library by the Leaf shinobi, and Lily's gaze followed him to the door. Once he was gone her eyes widened at a delayed realization. She and Naruto looked nothing alike, yet B had identified her as his mother instantly. It could have been a lucky guess… or the foreign visitors were playing a deeper game.

"Who was that, mom?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I don't know, sweetie," Lily replied slowly. _But I'm going to find out._

"Can we go to the park now?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Lily put on a stern face. "Do you think you _deserve_ to go play in the park after you disobeyed me, mister?"

Naruto gave her a woeful, wide-eyed look she'd never been able to resist. He even added an artistic tremble of his lower lip. "Yes?" Naruto paused, then added, "I love you, mommy."

Lily's heart absolutely melted. _Damn it…_ "I suppose we could make a quick stop," she allowed.

"Yay!" Naruto cheered.

"Inside voice, sweetie," Lily said as she put him down on the floor and they left the library together. On the walk to the park, Lily watched Naruto dart along with amused resignation. _At least I know Harry can't possibly be giving Kushina as many early gray hairs as Naruto is causing me…_


	5. Trail of Blood

Chapter Five: Trail of Blood

* * *

"Kushina, you didn't move my broom did you?" Sirius asked as he entered the kitchen.

Kushina looked up from where she was dicing carrots for dinner and shook her head. "I don't touch that thing anymore," she replied hastily.

She'd picked up Sirius' oddly ornate cleaning implement/flying conveyance once, and only once. Wizards and witches were apparently able to command the things with magic, but Kushina was not a witch. No sooner had she gripped the broom to relocate it than she'd felt a tug on her chakra, and the broom was going _up_ , taking her along for the ride. She'd been outside at the time, and found herself three stories in the air before she managed to pry her fingers off of its shaft. Had she not been a kunoichi the landing would have injured her.

"Hmm. Well it's not where I left it," Sirius grumbled.

Kushina happened to look out the window of their rural cottage outside of Edinburgh, and the blood drained from her face. "Harry's got it," she said precisely, putting down the paring knife. Sirius rushed over to the kitchen window and saw what she had; the precocious five-year old they'd been doing their best to raise and keep safe was dragging the adult-sized broom along through the garden.

"Oh f-" Sirius started to say. Kushina didn't hear the rest, already in motion. She was out the door and into the garden in record time, but Harry had already hopped onto the broom and was making zooming noises to himself.

"Harry James Potter, you get off of that broom right this instant!" Kushina had been told by friends and family that her voice was rather strident when she reached full volume. Judging by Harry's guilty jump, it had certainly startled him. Unfortunately, the broom took that motion as permission to lift off. It abruptly hopped several meters into the air, taking young Harry with it. Kushina crouched and leapt to catch broom and boy, but the infernal thing shimmied to the side, and she missed by meters.

Sirius, with his slower foot speed, made it out of the house somewhat behind Kushina. "Harry, lad," he called out, "tilt the front of the broom down gently and it'll glide down on its own, just like when we rode together!"

Harry Potter, unfortunately, had taken one look down from his lofty perch and cried out in alarm before wrapping arms and legs tightly around the shaft of the broom. Doing so only confused it, and the broom proceeded to move erratically in random directions in response to Harry's shifting weight.

"Sirius, get him down he's going to fall," Kushina insisted urgently.

Sirius, who already had his wand out, shook his head. "Can't aim when it's moving like that; I'd be as like to hit Harry as the broom. Best I can do is catching him when it shakes him off."

"Oh, to hell with that," Kushina growled. She flexed her mind, and four glowing chains of pure chakra exploded through the fabric of her dress across her spine. Two of them buried themselves in the earth, while the other pair shot up toward the broom. They tracked its motion unerringly and wrapped around the broom at either end. Predictably, the damn thing absorbed some of the chakra and tried to head for the stratosphere, but Kushina was firmly grounded. "No, _you_ come down _here_ ," Kushina told the broom through gritted teeth.

Slowly and with effort, Kushina reeled the in both broom and child. Sirius winced repeatedly at the sound of the chains grinding against the polished finish of his rather nice sports broom. "Not the gilding and engraving," he muttered upon seeing bits of silver leaf fluttering down to the ground. When Kushina got the broom low enough, Sirius snatched Harry off of it and she released her hold. Absent any more energy to power it, the broom fell to the ground.

Harry Potter had both an adoptive mother and godfather to look after him, and normally that was a good thing; twice the attention, twice the presents, and so on. But when he did foolish things it also meant twice the scolding. No sooner had Kushina gotten done chiding him for risking his neck than Sirius was on his case for risking an expensive broom.

Harry was looking rather woebegone by the time the dressing-down was complete. Sirius had drifted off to assess the damage Kushina had done to his broom, and she was about to take Harry inside to wash up for dinner – with no dessert mister, dessert is for boys who mind their mothers! – when the complex circular tattoo Kushina had carved onto the back of her left hand lit up with a sooty red light and vibrated slightly.

Sirius shot to his feet at the same time; he had an identical brand on his hand. "How the fu-" Sirius glanced at Harry and censored himself, "how the _hell_ do they keep finding us?"

"I wish I knew," Kushina replied wearily. A moment later the ground shook slightly. Off at the edge of the property, Kushina spotted a spray of greenish light splashing off of a previously invisible web of blue and red energy. "Take Harry inside and start packing up the house. I'll deal with our uninvited guests and then we can relocate."

Harry, still by Kushina's side, made a face. "Mum! We're moving _again_?"

Kushina knelt to get closer to Harry's height "I'm afraid so, sweetie." She tousled his messy black hair, noting as she always did the odd, jagged scar on his brow he'd had from the time she'd found him. "But we'll find a nice, new place to live. Would you like to have a house near the beach next?"

Harry's face lit up. "Yes, mum! That would be amazing!"

"Then that's what we'll do," Kushina said with a smile. "Once we get settled, we'll go looking for seashells. Won't that be fun?" Harry nodded excitedly. "Go inside with Sirius, now. That's a good boy."

Kushina let Sirius take Harry, and turned away before her expression became set and the light leeched out of her eyes. It was the face she never showed her son, that of the trained killer that she was below the doting mother that she tried to be for him.

 _How_ _ **do**_ _they keep finding us?_ Kushina asked herself as she cracked her knuckles and took off at a sprint for the property line. She and Sirius had lived in four different places in five years and Harry had never known anything but a semi-nomadic existence, because no matter how carefully Kushina covered their tracks, no matter how often Sirius apparated them, the damned dark wizards _always_ showed up eventually!

Putting useless speculation out of her mind, Kushina stepped through the barrier that surrounded the property. Outside, two wizards and a witch dressed in dark robes and masks carved to look like skulls paused in their bombardment of the wards. She saw three wands pointed at her, and snorted in contempt. "Do they make you idiots by the job lot somewhere?" Kushina demanded. "Seriously, how many moron bootlickers did this Moldyvort guy have?"

That pissed them all off, sure enough, and spells were hurled at Kushina from three different angles. The problem – for the Death Eaters – was that while spells were made of energy, they didn't travel at the speed of light. They actually moved at about the speed of a well-thrown kunai, and Kushina had been dodging those before she hit puberty. She _moved_ , and all three spells missed. She kept on moving, and the first male Death Eater actually had time for a rather girly scream before she hit him, focusing the full momentum of her body into a hard elbow that shattered his sternum and sent fragments of bone flying through his chest cavity. Blood fountained from the dying man's mouth through the hole in his mask, but Kushina was already two steps back before any of the spray could land on her.

"Seriously, do none of you wonder why no one who goes looking for me ever comes _back_?" Kushina demanded with some exasperation as she slipped between the rather frantic spells being lobbed her way. Closing in on the lone witch among the attackers Kushina snatched the wand from her fingers. Wands weren't as well-balanced as kunai, but she managed to throw it with a fair amount of force and accuracy, embedding it halfway to the hilt in the eye-hole of the last Death Eater's mask. He fell without a sound and Kushina turned back to the disarmed witch, who held what looked like some kind of ritual dagger in shaking hands.

"Oh that's _adorable_ ," Kushina said with a smile that didn't touch her cold eyes. "Do you even know how to use that?"

Kushina verified within a few moves that the witch had never actually been in a knife fight before. _Bloody wand-waving amateurs,_ she thought in disgust. Knocking the dagger out of the woman's hand, she got a grip on her opponent's throat and lifted the Death Eater off of the ground.

"What are you?" The witch choked out, her hands scrabbling at Kushina's wrist.

"Me? I'm just a pissed-off mom." Kushina tore the skull mask off, revealing a sagging and warty face belonging to an older woman with graying hair. "Now talk: how do you keep finding us?"

The witch sneered. "The Dark Lord's chosen will never stop seeking the boy so long as he lives!"

Kushina sighed wearily and dropped the Death Eater. When she hit the ground Kushina stomped on her shin, snapping the bone cleanly. The witch shrieked in pain. "Moldy's 'chosen' will go extinct if you keep this up," she said firmly. "Now how are you tracking us?"

The Death Eater proved remarkably stubborn. Kushina had discovered that they tended to be surprisingly loyal considering that their master had been dead for five years; her previous interrogation attempts had all come up dry. The witch wouldn't talk even when Kushina broke her other leg and then started working on fingers. The delicate 'snaps' and 'pops' seemed to get to the witch, however. On finger number six she screamed, "the scar, it's the scar," before curling up on the ground, cradling her ruined hands and sobbing.

"Harry's scar?" Kushina demanded.

The sobbing witch nodded. "He is marked by the Dark Lord, just as we are. The scar calls to us no matter where you hide him or what wards your companion conjures!"

Kushina stood up, dusting off the front of her dress where pollen and grass seed had gotten on it as she knelt over her victim. "There now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" She gathered up all three wands on the field and ground them into kindling with her bare hands. Then she headed back for the cottage.

"Wait! You can't… you can't just leave me here," came the Death Eater's pained cry behind her.

Kushina whirled, her blue eyes glacial. "Of course I can," she snarled, "and you should consider yourself lucky you're alive at all. There's a farmer who comes out here every week to deliver produce to us. His next visit will be in five days. There's a pond in the garden. If you crawl there, you'll have enough water to last until he arrives. Take the time to reconsider your life choices, and give your friends a message: you will all eat your fill of death and choke on it if you continue to seek Harry Potter."

Kushina made sure she didn't have any blood on her before entering the house. Sirius was busily shrinking their possessions and sending them streaming into a pair of suitcases. The house was emptied in minutes, and each of them picked up one of the cases. Kushina took Harry's hand, Harry took Sirius', and Sirius drew his wand. "Did I hear a request for a beach house next?"

"Yes!" Harry exclaimed with a smile.

"Off to the coast it is, then," Sirius said to his godson. He raised his wand, and with a 'crack' the cottage outside of Edinburgh was left empty.


	6. Business

Chapter Six: Business

* * *

Several days after Lily Potter's afternoon at the library she was at work, and thoroughly occupied. The same delegation from the Land of Lightning that brought the Raikage had included a number of prominent nobles and merchant factors from that nation. Amid the political talks a great deal of business was being done. Since there existed no spell Lily knew of to read and revise draft contracts faster, that's what she was spending her time doing.

After returning from lunch, Lily was eyebrow-deep in futures contracts for Lightning's winter wheat crop when a knuckle was rapped on the open doorframe of her office. "Yes?" Lily murmured reflexively before glancing up. She saw a tall man who was slender to the point of being gaunt watching her with shrewd jade-hued eyes. His hair was mostly gray but with some strands of pale pink still mixed in, and he wore expensive, well-fitted clothes. Wincing, Lily sat up straight and inclined her head respectfully. "Apologies, honored grandfather; how can I help you?"

Ryu Haruno, the patriarch and current leader of the family, smiled faintly. "I need you to deliver these documents to the Lightning embassy, Lily dear," he said, stepping into her office and holding out a sealed manila envelope bulging with papers. "Some are too sensitive to entrust to our usual courier."

Lily rose to her feet and took the package from Ryu, a man who believed that she was his granddaughter thanks to the memory charms she had placed on him and the rest of the family years earlier. "Of course; I'll go at once."

"Please do," Ryu murmured. "They're to be delivered to Lord Hisomo himself, not an aide. Atsuki will escort you door to door; she's waiting outside."

Because the family's patriarch was looking at her, Lily managed not to grimace at that last part. "Understood," she replied respectfully, waiting for Ryu to depart. Once he was out of sight Lily deposited her wand in a locked desk drawer before leaving.

True to Ryu's word, Atsuki was waiting outside the Haruno offices, tapping her foot irritably. Lily's 'cousin' was a few years her junior. Her hair was a dark pink that was almost red, and cropped short. She wore a blue bodysuit, green flak jacket and a Konoha hitai-ate as an armband. A short sword rested in a sheath over her left shoulder, and the pouch at her hip held kunai and shuriken.

Atsuki's green eyes turned flinty as soon as she saw Lily. She turned her head and spat on the ground. It was a crude gesture, but Atsuki was – in Lily's opinion – a crude woman, so it fit. "Well?" Atsuki demanded. "Let's get moving. I don't have all day."

"After you," Lily replied with a fake smile. Atsuki stalked off ahead of her, and Lily's ears were sharp enough to catch muttering about 'babysitting a paper pusher on a walk across town'. She forced herself not to react, knowing as she had for years what Atsuki's real problem was.

Atsuki was a jounin, and one of the few members of the Haruno family trained in martial skills. She held the title of 'guardian', and unlike most shinobi in Konoha who took on missions from a variety of clients, Atsuki's only client was her own family, safeguarding them when they went into potentially hazardous situations.

Atsuki's father had been the last guardian, and he had died the night of the Kyuubi's rampage. That tragedy had left Atsuki firmly in the camp of people whose hatred of Naruto was implacable and unreasoning. Her voice had been the loudest raised in protest when Lily had adopted her son, but Ryu had overruled her objections. Atsuki had shut up and toed the family line after that, but her distaste for Lily and Naruto never faded.

It was thus a relief to reach the Land of Lightning's Konoha embassy, though Lily could feel Atsuki's glare boring into the back of her head until she was inside and the doors closed behind her. Lily identified herself at the front desk, was verified as a legitimate appointment, and issued a visitor's badge that got her past the blank-faced shinobi guards after a thorough pat-down. They found nothing, though they would have found her wand if she'd had it. No one in Konoha actually knew what a wand _was_ , and it didn't look like a weapon, but Lily preferred to be cautious about letting too many people see the one thing that made her stand out.

Inside the halls of the embassy, Lily made her way to the offices of House Hisomo. They did a lot of business with the Haruno conglomerate, and the secretary recognized Lily on sight. She offered to take the package, but Lily declined, mindful of Ryu's instructions. As a result, she was waiting outside of Lord Hisomo's office for more than half an hour before his meeting concluded. When the door opened Lily rose to her feet – and blinked in surprise as none other than B emerged from the office, tall enough that he actually had to duck his head a bit to get through the door.

B's reaction was muted; he paused for a fraction of a second when he saw her, and the corners of his lips curved into a faint smile. "Ms. Haruno," he murmured.

"Mr. B," Lily replied neutrally, willing her heart to stop beating faster. _Good lord, am I still a fourth-year Gryffindor passing a cute boy in the halls between class, or a grown woman and a mother?_

"Ah, Lily, there you are! Come in, please!" Lord Hisomo's voice boomed out of his office when he spotted her. B took the opportunity to slip past her and out of the Hisomo offices. Lily turned over the documents, and lingered while Lord Hisomo reviewed them. She was able to answer most of his questions, and make notes of his remaining queries for Ryu to answer.

When the exchange was done Lily said her goodbyes and departed. Heading for the exit, she came to a halt after rounding the first corner in the hallway. B was leaning against the wall, looking deliberately nonchalant.

Lily studied the man for a moment. "Are you… waiting for me?" She inquired when he didn't move or speak up.

"I suppose I am," B replied.

"Why?" Lily asked.

"If I asked you to have dinner with me tomorrow night, would you be allowed to say yes?"

One of Lily's pink eyebrows drifted up. "What makes you so sure I'd _choose_ to say yes?" she retorted, crossing her arms.

"Just a feeling," B said with a smile.

"So you're a man who listens to his feelings?"

B shrugged. "Feelings, instincts, gut… call it what you will. I listen, yes."

"You barely know me beyond introductions at the library the other day," Lily pointed out, _and why am I questioning this, just say yes,_ some rebellious corner of her psyche demanded.

B nodded agreeably. "That's true, and since I'd like to get to know you better… have dinner with me."

"That's your only aim here?" Lily challenged him swiftly, "You want to get to know _me_?" _You're not just trying to get close to my son? Because I don't believe for a second you don't know who and what Naruto is._

B paused and slipped off his shades, revealing earnest, dark eyes. "You're the only one I'm asking out, Lily," he said.

Lily had to suppress the shiver that ran down her spine when he said her name. _How the hell does he do that with his voice?_ The man hadn't moved from his spot against the wall since the conversation started, but Lily swore she could practically _feel_ B's words moving across her skin… and it wasn't an unpleasant sensation. "Then yes. I'd like to have dinner with you," Lily answered at last.

"Great," B said with a smile. "Would you be available if I dropped by your family's residence around seven tomorrow evening?"

Lily nodded. "I think I could manage that."

"Great. See you then, Lily," B said before detaching himself from the wall and heading deeper into the embassy.

"What are you grinning about?" Atsuki demanded crossly when Lily emerged from the embassy a minute later.

"Oh, nothing," Lily replied demurely, "just a good meeting."

Atsuki muttered something under her breath about 'crazy paper pushers', but Lily barely noticed, the smile not leaving her face as she headed back to work. Before returning to her own office she stopped at another, knocking on the door and ducking her head inside. A woman with short auburn hair and intelligent green eyes looked up from a ledger she was writing in and smiled. "Hey there Lily, what's up?"

"I have a favor to ask, Mebuki," Lily said apologetically. "I know it's kind of last-minute, but is there any way you could look after Naruto tomorrow night?"

Mebuki considered that for a moment before nodding. "I don't see why not. I should just be home with Sakura anyways."

"Great," Lily murmured with a relieved smile. Mebuki was her sister-in-law, the wife of Lily's 'brother' Kizashi. They had a little girl named Sakura about Naruto's age, and the cousins were frequent playmates.

"What's the occasion?" Mebuki inquired.

"Oh, I've just got some plans. To be… out," Lily said evasively.

She winced at the eager light in Mebuki's eyes. "You've got a date, don't you Lily?" she demanded with a grin.

Lily winced. "Maybe?"

"You do have a date!" Mebuki crowed, emerging from behind her desk to hug her sister-in-law. "Good for you, Lily. Your husband – god rest his soul – was a good man but I've been saying for years, you've got to get back on the horse eventually." Mebuki studied her intently. "Who is he? Have we met?"

Lily felt a moment of alarm. Mebuki was the biggest gossip in the family. If she knew about B, half of Konoha would know by sundown. "Maybe no one," Lily said cautiously. "I just met him this week, Mebuki."

"Oh I see," Mebuki said sagely. "Not getting your hopes up yet?" Lily nodded. "Well, it's good that you're getting out there anyways," she barreled on with the subtlety and force of a conversational freight train. "You're young and beautiful Lily, and Naruto's a dear but he can't be your whole life. So go on and do something for yourself! Should I plan to just pick up Naruto from daycare along with Sakura tomorrow?"

Lily nodded again. "Yes please, if you would."

Mebuki patted Lily on the shoulder. "No problem at all, dear. No problem at all."

Lily managed to escape soon after, breathing a sigh of relief that Mebuki hadn't pressed her for more details. She returned to her office and her work, but the same smile kept creeping back onto her face when she wasn't paying attention for the rest of the day.


	7. Adversary

Chapter Seven: Adversary

* * *

Having just put his godson to sleep in the smaller bedroom of the hotel suite in Lisbon where he, Harry and Kushina were staying while looking for a permanent residence, Sirius Black paused to pour himself a glass of firewhisky. Slumping into a comfortable chair, he studied the amber liquid moodily.

Now that he knew what to look for – thanks to Kushina's information from the Death Eater she had tortured – Sirius could detect a node of dark magic hidden deep inside young Harry's scar. What he couldn't do was get rid of it. He could guess that Voldemort's killing curse had placed that nugget of darkness in his godson, but knowing that didn't bring him any closer to knowing how to remove or conceal the infection that was apparently drawing Death Eaters to Harry.

Sirius knew himself to be an experienced wizard and an accomplished duelist. _But I'm not an Unspeakable, damn it_ , he groused mentally. _Remus was the bookworm of our merry little band; research bored me even when I had access to a magical library!_ The Department of Mysteries could probably figure out Harry's scar, but approaching them was, unfortunately, impossible. Sirius remained one of the most wanted men in magical Britain five years after his escape from Azkaban, so he could hardly take his godson to the Ministry of Magic to seek treatment. Nor could Kushina; Sirius understood that she was nothing like the average Muggle but the Ministry wouldn't care, even if there wasn't the small matter of her having technically kidnapped Harry from his aunt and uncle's care.

Barely had Sirius taken his first drink, letting the liquid heat settle into his belly, than the living room window – located on the hotel's eighth story – slammed open from the outside. Sirius was on his feet with his wand drawn before he registered a head full of crimson hair and relaxed. "Damn it Kushina, I almost hexed… you…" his words trailed off as she moved into the light of the lamp by his chair. There was a great deal more red covering Kushina than just her hair "Oh god, what happened?"

Kushina was favoring her left leg, and her right hand was pressed tightly to her left side. Blood was leaking from between her fingers and dripping off of her left arm, which hung limp. Stunned, Sirius could see long gashes running up and down that arm, and more along her rib cage and thigh including the deep one that she was barely holding closed. There was also a nasty burn on her face in a ragged line from the right side of her forehead, across her left eyelid and tapering off low on her left cheek. "I underestimated… the Death Eaters," Kushina gasped out between gritted teeth as Sirius grabbed her shoulders and gently laid her out on the couch. "They're learning."

Sirius grabbed the bag of magical medical supplies. All he'd had to get out of it recently was charmed cough drops for Harry. "Did they follow you?" Sirius asked, glancing warily at the open window.

"Unlikely," Kushina rasped, "I left two bodies on the ground at the market. Third one did most of this; he hung back while the others fought, but I got him pretty good too. He won't be chasing anyone tonight."

Nodding absently, Sirius took in hand a bottle of reddish tonic, some burn salve, a needle and a spool of self-sterilizing thread. Returning to Kushina's side he uncorked the bottle. "Drink; this will replace the lost blood," he urged her.

With a pained expression on her face, Kushina sat up enough to get the bottle to her lips. Sirius saw her gag at the first sip. "What is this, pond scum?" Kushina demanded.

"I know it tastes horrible. Finish it," Sirius instructed. Grimacing, Kushina complied.

Sirius' deft fingers were already threading the needle, and Kushina glanced at it apprehensively. "Do you know what you're doing?"

"No, but the needle does," Sirius replied. When he was done, he waved his wand at the curved piece of metal. It leapt into the air on its own. "Roll over so it can get to your injuries."

Moving onto her right side drew a pained cry from Kushina's lips, which worried Sirius; he'd witnessed her toughness and pain tolerance before, and they were considerable. "Harry's asleep?" Kushina gasped out.

Sirius nodded. He waved his wand in a circle above their heads, making the air ripple around the edges of the room. "No one will hear a thing." He dug a bottle of clear liquid out of the medical bag. "You want something for the pain? A sip of this and you won't even feel the needle."

Kushina shook her head. "No. Don't think they'll come again tonight… but I need to be lucid if I'm wrong. Just do it." Sirius nodded gravely, and tore away the shredded remains of her shirt and pants from the injured areas. With that done he used his wand to point the needle at the first wound. It swooped in and deftly started to sew the long gash closed. If a mediwitch or wizard were present they could heal her injuries with direct magic, but that was another skillset Sirius lacked.

Even with the enchanted needle working quickly, closing all of Kushina's wounds took a long time. At first Sirius busied himself spreading the healing salve on the burn to her face. He was relieved to discover that it wasn't deep enough to have damaged her eye; she'd closed it in time. A seared retina he couldn't have fixed.

Once that was done Sirius sat by Kushina's side while the needle worked, his hand in hers, enduring the bruising force with which she squeezed it when the needle hit a sensitive spot. She only cried out a few times before the stitching was done.

When the needle had returned to the bag Kushina lay awkwardly on her right side, her left mostly bare and a mass of stitches. Sirius had done his best not to look at what was revealed while stripping her and guiding the needle. After conjuring away the blood soaking her skin and the couch he settled a clean, warm blanket over her, and they both breathed a sigh of relief.

"So what happened?" Sirius asked once he'd gotten her some water and a pillow.

"Like I said, they're learning," Kushina sighed. "They were waiting for me at the market. They'd done something to make themselves harder to see; my eyes just kept sliding over them. They couldn't hide their ki, but it was still hard to aim."

"Ki?" Sirius asked, puzzled.

"Sorry, killing intent. When someone actually forms the intention to take a life, it resonates through and from them. Where I come from, truly powerful shinobi can use their ki as a weapon, paralyzing the weak-willed by projecting the inevitability of their death onto them." Kushina paused to take a drink.

"These guys… their ki was nowhere near that strong; it just helped me find them. Still, not being able to aim precisely was annoying. One of them got me here," she pointed to the salved burn on her face, "point blank before I put him down. Then, when half my vision was gone, the last one hit me from my blind side." She frowned. "I've never seen a spell like that one, and neither had Lily. It wasn't flashy; no light, no travel time, just one word and I got slashed like he'd hit me with a dozen kunai." Kushina grimaced at the memory. "I passed out for a second and when I came to he was standing over me about to cast another spell. I don't think he was expecting me to stab him in the leg; the coward apparated away after that."

Despite himself, Sirius was curious. "What word did he say? Do you remember?"

Kushina's expression became briefly haunted as she nodded. "Yeah, I think I'll be hearing it in my dreams for a while: sectumsempra." Kushina's right eye drifted closed to match her left, and her breathing slowed.

Sirius crossed the room to close the window, and then slowly settled back into his chair to watch over Kushina while she rested. He let the last word she'd spoken roll through his mind. "Sectumsempra?" Sirius shivered; he'd never heard of that spell before, but the word felt ominous and dark just to speak. "It was inevitable, I suppose, that we'd eventually attract a higher caliber of Death Eater," he concluded uneasily.

* * *

With a 'crack' of displaced air, a lone figure in dark robes with a raised cowl apparated onto the edge of the grounds of the Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Limping and leaving a bloody footprint behind with every other step, he tapped his wand on an innocent-looking outcropping of rock, a portion of which swung away to reveal a narrow stairway.

"Bloody! Fucking! Heavily! Armed! Redhead!" The wizard swore under his breath as he staggered down the stairs and along a long, narrow tunnel. "'Find a way to accompany them', he says," he groused. "'It's our best chance to find Harry Potter, or at least his kidnapper' he says. Well if that harpy has Potter's errant brat she can bloody well _keep_ him!" The wizard climbed a shorter set of stairs at the other end of the hall, and emerged from behind a bookcase into an office in the dungeons of the school. Tugging his cowl off and throwing aside his mask in a fit, the wizard revealed dark, greasy black hair and a pinched, angry face with a hawk-bill of a nose.

Severus Snape limped over to his locked potions cabinet. His deft fingers hastily retrieved a pair of potions before he collapsed into his chair. The first potion he uncorked was poured over a deep, bleeding leg wound after he'd yanked out the bloody blade still protruding from his thigh. The second potion he consumed in one long draught. Snape sighed in relief as the pain faded and the injury rapidly sealed itself shut.

A snarl of rage crossing his face, Snape tossed the knife on his desk and glared at it. The woman who had to be Dumbledore's mysterious 'K.U." had plunged the blade into his leg, and the fact that she was on the ground, wounded and half-blind was likely the only reason she'd missed the artery. The knife was odd to Snape's eye, nothing like the tools he employed in potion-making. The blade was an elongated diamond shape, with no crosspiece, a short cloth-wrapped handle and a ring capping the hilt.

As Snape contemplated the knife that had nearly ended his life there was a knock at the door. "Come in, Headmaster," he sighed. No one else would be visiting at this hour.

Albus Dumbledore stepped into the room and studied his Potions Master, taking in the gory knife, Snape's bloody robes, the open potion cabinet and the door to the secret passage hanging ajar. "I take it the evening's excursion didn't go well?" Dumbledore inquired mildly.

"She _stabbed_ me, Albus," Snape snarled. "She stabbed me after taking two different spells that should have put any Muggle in a coma!" He pointed to the bloody knife. "Two centimeters to the left and I'd be as dead as Murdaugh and Creed! No, the evening did _not_ go well!"

Dumbledore nodded. "But our conjecture is confirmed?"

Snape took a deep breath and calmed himself. It wasn't that Dumbledore wasn't a compassionate man – sometimes he was far too much so – but he could get very focused on the big picture sometimes. "Yes," Snape admitted, "Millicent's story appears to be accurate. Murdaugh and Creed described the same dream she did."

In light of nearly dying, Snape regretted telling Dumbledore what he'd learned when Millicent Mulfride had shown up at his home just days prior. He'd known her as a low-ranking Death Eater prior to the Dark Lord's fall. She'd shown up wandless, with her legs and fingers horribly broken and then crudely bandaged by _Muggles_. He'd been inclined to turn her away until she told him how she'd been injured and why. She'd spun quite a tale while he brewed a potion to set her bones properly.

"Their Dark Marks remained inactive?" Dumbledore inquired sharply.

"No more active than mine," Snape replied. "They were spooked and unsure, Albus. That made it easier to convince them to let me tag along."

"They wouldn't tell you what they were instructed to do with young Harry if they found him?" Dumbledore's gaze was very intent as he asked that question.

Snape shook his head. "They clammed up when I asked, just like Millicent. Pressing the point would have roused their suspicions."

"Regrettable," Dumbledore sighed. "Still we've made contact with the enemy. Did you at least get a good look at this woman, this… 'K.U.', if it is indeed the same person?"

Plucking an empty vial up in his fingers, Snape tapped his wand to his temple and drew it away with a slender silver filament clinging to the tip. He dropped it in the vial and corked the top before handing it over to Dumbledore. "Enjoy," he said sourly.

"Thank you for your efforts tonight, Severus," Dumbledore said after making the vial disappear into his sleeve. "Will you be all right?"

"I'm fine now," Snape admitted.

Dumbledore departed, and with the memories he'd handed over fresh in his mind Snape couldn't help but remember that long red hair flying through the air as she'd killed his 'fellow' Death Eaters with stunning speed and strength for all that she shouldn't even have been able to see them. He recalled her blue eyes, focused and cold as ice.

Snape could hear her scream as his spell ripped up and down the blinded left side of her body and her blood spray arced through the air. That part of the memory he'd carefully edited, replacing the sectumsempra with a simple stunning spell. He didn't need Dumbledore tutting over his use of dark magic.

For the first time since returning to Hogwarts, a faint smile crossed Snape's unlovely face. "That part was fun, at least," he murmured.


	8. Date Night

_Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who's left a review, if I haven't responded personally!_

Chapter Eight: Date Night

* * *

Gazing into the bathroom mirror as she carefully applied lipstick, Lily Potter was obscurely glad that Naruto was with his aunt already. She didn't need her five-year old staring at her and wondering aloud what mommy was doing to be reminded that she hadn't put on makeup or gotten dressed up nicely outside of work and family-related events in quite some time.

Looking at her reflection when she was done, Lily almost didn't recognize herself. The makeup was part of it, coloring her lips and highlighting her eyes. The outfit she'd found at a boutique the night before added to the impression. The dress was made of a soft, cream fabric, with thin straps over the shoulders and a hem that fell past her knees. It was not a shade Lily had worn much with the hair color she'd been born with, but with her long tresses transformed to a fairly vivid shade of pink it worked.

Since she didn't have a thigh holster for her wand – and would have felt a bit silly wearing one if she did – Lily slipped it in her handbag before heading out the door. The sun was low in the sky but hadn't set on the spring evening. B was waiting on the street corner when Lily stepped through the ornamental gate interrupting the low wall surrounding the Haruno properties. She sized up his appearance; he's traded pale shinobi armor for a well-tailored dark suit, and wasn't visibly armed. _Why, this will almost feel like 'normal folks night out',_ Lily mused approvingly, _although I'd bet last month's pay he's got a few knives squirrelled away at least._

"You look lovely, Lily," B murmured in appreciation. He'd left the sunglasses behind with the rest of his uniform, so she could see his dark eyes looking her over appreciatively.

"Thank you," Lily replied with a smile. "You clean up fairly well yourself, B. So ease my suspense; where are we headed?"

B held out an arm, and Lily slipped her hand around his elbow. They set off down the street, and B modulated the stride of his much longer legs so she didn't have to work to keep up. "Konoha's your home, so you probably know more interesting places to go than I do," he replied, "but I thought we could have dinner at the Mirror Theatre, if that's all right with you."

"Dinner and a show?" Lily noted. "That sounds nice to me, though I haven't kept up with who's performing there lately."

"The regular act is off this week, as I understand," B told her. "The Sky Company is here, actually, which is a treat."

"Haven't heard of them, I'm afraid," Lily admitted.

"Few outside of Lightning have," B replied. "But they're very good. Trust me."

"I do," Lily replied immediately, surprising herself. She still harbored suspicions about Kumo's aims in coming to Konoha, but from B himself Lily couldn't detect anything but sincerity.

The walk to the theatre didn't take long, and when they arrived B displayed not tickets but an engraved silver badge. The already polite attendants became almost obsequious at that point, and showed B and Lily up to a small table in one of the private boxes overlooking the stage and the main dining floor. "Impressive," Lily noted. "Most of these boxes are rented or owned by the more prominent shinobi clans or merchant families."

B shrugged, "I'd take credit, but this is the ambassador's box."

"Generous of him," Lily replied.

"Well that, and he owes me; I pulled his ass out of the fire more than once when we were kids. Great guy, but he's a far more skilled diplomat than shinobi." Their conversation paused while a polite waiter stepped inside the box. B ordered a bottle of wine for them, and then the waiter turned to Lily for her order.

Lily had already taken a look at the menu, but an errant memory of her first date with James surfaced. Lily followed the impulse, closing her menu and offering B a smile. "Surprise me," she told him.

Without skipping a beat B ordered for both of them, picking out a bison tenderloin with horseradish rub for himself, tea-infused duck breasts for her, as well as new potatoes with shaved truffles and steamed asparagus. The waiter departed with a bow.

B studied Lily for a moment. "So do I pass?"

Lily smiled. "Oh, I wasn't testing you. But that sounds delicious, so full marks anyways." Silently she recalled a moment of panic on James' face when she'd done that to him at a café in Hogsmeade on their first date in the seventh year. It was a welcome change from the cocky self-assurance that he'd usually exuded. B seemed just as confident… but she got the sense that it was warranted. This was a man who had surely been tested by more than just the OWLs.

On the stage below the lights came down and the show started. There was a small orchestral pit below the stage, and the actors and actresses all had wonderful voices. The prose was archaic, however, and Kushina's experiences hadn't leaned towards things like dramas written centuries earlier. B must have noticed something on Lily's expression as she puzzled through some of the lines, because he started offering a quiet, running commentary. As he spoke, Lily noticed the similarities between his tone and the players below. "You're a musician yourself, aren't you?" Lily guessed.

B grinned and pressed a finger to his lips. "Don't tell anyone, but yes," he admitted.

Lily blinked. "It's something to be ashamed of?"

B shrugged. "Some shinobi might think so," he replied, "but it's been years since anyone expressed that opinion to my face. Still, not great for the reputation to admit that I actually enjoy stuff like this." The food, when it arrived, was amazing, and with B explaining some of the more obscure – and frequently dirty – puns in the musical play Lily enjoyed herself immensely.

When the waiter came to clear away their dishes and bring dessert, he bumped Lily's chair accidentally. Her purse, which had been hanging off of the back, fell to the floor, and a few of its contents fell out. Seeing her wand among the items exposed Lily quickly grabbed it and shoved it back inside, but not quickly enough.

"What is that thing?" B inquired once they were alone.

"What is what?" Lily asked as casually as she could manage.

"That wooden rod," B clarified.

"Oh it's nothing," Lily said dismissively, "just a knick-knack."

"That you had in hand when your son fell off of that bookshelf?" B asked skeptically.

 _Damn. He did see that,_ Lily fumed. "It's just something I carry for good luck, really," she said. "There's not much I could have done but pray in that situation, until you came along." She forced a smile. "What's with the interrogation, all of a sudden?" B let the subject drop after that, much to Lily's relief.

When the show ended the pair departed the theatre. Outside, several other entertainment establishments and numerous restaurants and bars were also shedding patrons as the night wound down. The result was very crowded streets, and the second time Lily was bumped into by an inebriated barfly, she started to get cross about the whole thing.

"Want to get out of here a little faster?" B murmured in Lily's ear.

"Desperately," she replied.

"Then trust me; and hang on." Lily squeaked in surprise as B picked her up in his arms. She had enough time for a startled glance and to slip her arms around his neck; and then the world flickered around her. She had a brief impression of a deserted rooftop, and then they moved again. B did it twice more, and when he set Lily down her feet met trimmed grass. Looking around, Lily recognized the Nara Gardens, a park full of varied botanical wonders maintained by the clan of the same name as a gift to Konoha. The park was largely deserted at that late hour, but illuminated by gas lights atop wrought iron poles.

B held onto Lily's shoulder until the faint sense of vertigo from the trip faded. She studied him carefully with a new respect and new questions. She'd made an effort to study shinobi abilities as much as someone who lacked them could, so she understood just how impressive what he'd just done was. The shunshin was technically demanding and costly in terms of chakra. Doing it while carrying someone as normal and fragile as Lily without letting her feel the abrupt changes in inertia marked him as a master of the ability.

"Well this is much nicer," Lily admitted, looking around. "Did you know this was one of my favorite places in Konoha?"

B shook his head. "Just looked like a nice place to stop and take a rest," he replied.

"It is, at that," Lily replied, pausing with relish to slip off her shoes and just feel the grass on her bare feet. "Have you ever seen orchids from the tropics of the Land of Water?" When B shook his head Lily set off, beckoning to him. "Well they're beautiful. Don't ask me how the Nara get them to grow and bloom here; they won't tell anyone."

Strolling through the garden, Lily got the chance to show B around, and she was impressed by how many places he _had_ visited. He identified a few plants that Lily hadn't known the origins of, like a small tree with twisted limbs that produced tiny, fragrant violet blossoms. "Nobles in the Land of Earth grow those instead of hedges to guard their estates," B told her. "The reason it's behind that fence is because it's nice to look at, but not to touch. The bark secretes oil that itches like a dozen wasp stings." Elsewhere, B pointed to a cluster of spiny, barrel-shaped cactuses from the Land of Wind. "Unless you stumble across an oasis, those are the best source of water in the southern desert."

At the end of their walk B and Lily sat down on a bench by the side of a pond underneath a mature willow tree. He slid his arm around her shoulder over the back of the bench, and she appreciated the warmth of his skin to ward off the cool evening air. When he leaned in closer, she didn't have to think about it very hard. She tilted her head back, and their lips met. It was nice, especially as her soul's magical core pulsed in recognition of another in time with her heart hammering in her chest. Just why this man had a magical core – and seemed unaware of it – was one of many mysteries surrounding B.

"There's something about you, Lily…" B murmured when their lips parted, "something different."

 _Instinct,_ Lily realized. _He's learned to listen to his intuition and that's telling him we're alike, even if he doesn't know why or how._ "Different how?" Lily inquired gamely.

"I don't know how to put it; you're going to think it's a cheap line," B told her.

"I can promise to _try_ not to laugh," she said with a straight face.

"Oh that's comforting," B grumbled. "I feel…" he ran his fingers across Lily's cheek and then slowly through her pink hair, sending a delighted shiver down her spine. "I feel a connection between us," he admitted, "and I know how that sounds, given that we've just met, but I mean it."

 _Magical souls do seem more likely to reach out to each other in isolation,_ Lily mused. "Well that would sound contrived," she admitted, "except that I feel the same way."

B paused. "You do?" He rubbed the back of his head. "Well that's a relief."

Lily rubbed his arm encouragingly. "I learned a long time ago not to question what feels right," she murmured. She leaned forward to kiss him again, and words were unnecessary for a moment.

"So where do we go from here, B?" Lily asked softly, shifting her position to rest her head on his shoulder. He kept his arm wrapped around her, his fingertips running over hers as they gazed out over the pond.

"I'd like to see you again," B replied.

"And I you," Lily answered promptly. The thought came to her unbidden that she was rooted in Konoha for the foreseeable future, and he was bound to the service of a foreign power, but she didn't bring it up. He had to be aware, and it would only sour the moment. "How much longer are you staying?" Lily asked instead, slightly safer ground.

"Through the end of next week," B replied.

"Well I'm going to be swamped with work until the weekend," Lily murmured, ordering things in her head. "On Saturday there's a sort of festival put together every year by the orchards outside town to celebrate the first fruit harvest. There's always lots of fresh food and entertainment; assuming I can get my sister to look after Naruto again, would you like to go?"

"I'd love to," B replied, tactfully ignoring the irritating reality that Lily couldn't simply bring her son with them.

B walked Lily home after that, and once again she couldn't kill the smile on her face as she strolled from the gates of the Haruno residences to her sister's house. Unfortunately, as she turned a corner, Atsuki was there to kill it for her. "Lily," she said in an annoyed tone, "you've been out late."

Lily's eyes narrowed. "I wasn't aware I was under curfew, Atsuki," she shot back.

"You're not, but Ryu wants to speak to you," Atsuki told Lily with a smirk.

Lily kept her face placid even as her stomach dropped into her shoes. _This can't be a coincidence._ "It's a bit late to be calling on the family's head," Lily offered, "and I still need to pick up Naruto."

Atsuki shook her head, clearly relishing the moment. "His instructions were 'immediately', even if it's late." She stepped out of Lily's path and extended an arm. "After you," she purred.

Ignoring Atsuki, Lily set off down the path to the palatial residence of the family's patriarch. The lights were still on, and inside Atsuki gestured Lily towards Ryu's study at the back of the first floor looking out over the gardens.

Inside Ryu was waiting, and he was not alone. An old man with dark hair sat across the desk from him. Their conversation died down when Lily and Atsuki entered. The stranger turned around, and upon seeing a face and body covered with bandages on his right side Lily had to fight not to stiffen. She didn't know him, but Kushina had. His name was Danzo Shimura, and while his public face was as a retired shinobi and member of the Hokage's inner circle of advisors, Kushina had known his true identity; founder of Root and the Hokage's bag man in delicate situations.

Lily managed the polite introductions in a daze, dread eating at her gut. She was pretty sure she knew why he was here, and he confirmed her fears with his first words once she was seated and Atsuki had retreated to lean against the wall by the door.

"It's late, so I'll be blunt, Ms. Haruno," Danzo said. "The Hokage is aware of your 'outing' tonight with Killer B of Kumo. This contact will not be repeated."

Lily's eyes narrowed. "I wasn't aware that my personal life was any of the Hokage's business," she shot back, "or yours."

"You don't have a personal life, Ms. Haruno," Danzo continued implacably, "and your affairs have been our business since you chose to adopt the vessel of the Kyuubi."

Lily was about to retort, but Danzo held up a hand. "You've provided the boy with a stable home environment, and up until today there's been no issue with your care of him. Quite to the contrary, you've done the village a great service, even if that service is not appreciated in some quarters."

Lily blinked. "You're here because I asked my sister to babysit?"

Danzo gave her a stern look. "I'm here because an agent of a hostile village is attempting to get close to you, and for whatever reason you didn't have the good sense to turn him away."

"I was under the impression that the delegation from Kumo was here in the spirit of diplomacy," Lily replied, playing the game of 'clueless civilian'.

"There is no diplomacy between Hidden Villages," Danzo snorted, "only periods of information gathering and feeling out before conflict begins again." He shook his head. "This is all beside the point. Killer B and the rest of the Kumo delegation will be departing early. Until that time, and in the future, you will have no further contact with him." Danzo paused. "Disregard my instructions, and young Naruto will be placed with a caregiver more conscious of his security needs."

That rocked Lily back. "Naruto's my son, you can't take him away from me!" she retorted hotly.

"I can and I will, by the Hokage's order," Danzo barked. "Regretfully, because doing so will create more work and will be a negative outcome for the boy, but his safety is the primary consideration here. Am I understood?"

Lily glared at Danzo for a moment before dropping her gaze in defeat. Everything Kushina knew about him told her that he never bluffed; he'd do exactly as he'd threatened. "I understand," Lily replied dully.

"Good," Danzo said, picking up a gnarled wooden cane and levering himself to his feet. "Killer B will be informed that there will be no further outings. You need not contact him. Good night, Ms. Haruno." He swept out of the room without another word.

Lily kept her head down, trying to will away the tears that threatened. It wasn't fair; for five years she'd had little for herself between raising Naruto and working for her adopted family. She didn't resent that; she loved the boy, and had come to care for the Haruno family as well. Then she'd finally found a little, temporary piece of happiness, and now it was gone because of a few paranoid old men.

Lily heard Ryu ask Atsuki to wait outside and then emerged from behind his desk, taking the seat in front of her that Danzo had occupied. "I'm sorry, Lily," Ryu said regretfully. "I tried to convince him that a few dates couldn't possibly hurt anyone, but he won't be moved and he has the weight of the Hokage behind him."

Ryu embraced her then, and Lily hugged her adopted grandfather back, letting herself mourn what would never be for a moment before pulling herself together. "Thank you," she murmured as she drew away from Ryu.

"Atsuki will walk you to Mebuki's house," Ryu told Lily. Atsuki was the last person Lily wanted to be around right now, but Ryu was sometimes a bit oblivious to the tension between his granddaughters, so she nodded in silent acceptance.

For a wonder, Atsuki was mercifully quiet on the walk to Mebuki's house. It wasn't until they reached the front walkway that Atsuki grabbed Lily's arm.

"What?" Lily snarled, before registering that Atsuki wasn't even looking at her. Her eyes were scanning the rooftops.

"Quiet," Atsuki whispered. "Something's wrong."

"What?" Lily asked uneasily.

"There's always one or two ANBU loitering around wherever your brat is, day or night," Atsuki hissed, her hand going over her shoulder, drawing her sword, "but right now there aren't any."

Alarm washed over Lily. She looked at the house again, and her eyes narrowed. "The lights are all off," she whispered. "Mebuki never goes to bed this early."

Atsuki swore under her breath. "I don't suppose I could convince you to just run and get help?"

Lily shook her head, slipping her hand in her bag to grip her wand. "Not a chance."

Atsuki sighed. "Then stay behind me and try not to make any noise."

Atsuki moved through the long evening shadows toward the house, and Lily followed as best she was able. _Was I really that wrong? Is B part of an effort by Kumo to take Naruto?_ Lily lifted her wand from her purse and whispered two spells. The first was a dueling ward meant to block electrical attacks from another wizard; Lily hoped it would also dampen the lightning attacks Kumo ninja were famous for. That one she cast on herself and Atsuki. The second spell, another ward to dampen high-speed kinetic impacts, she cast only on herself as it would inhibit Atsuki's ability to fight.

Atsuki worked her way around to the side door, opening it without a sound. She ducked inside, and Lily followed a step behind. It was very dark in the house, and the first thing Lily made out was Mebuki and Sakura sprawled on the carpeted floor of their living room. For a horrible moment she thought they were dead before she saw their chests moving. They were only unconscious.

The second thing Lily saw was a flicker of movement from deeper in the house. Atsuki swore and dodged a trio of shuriken, ducking behind the sofa. A flying kunai reached Lily, but stopped dead a few centimeters from her chest and dropped to the ground on striking her ward. Realizing she was outlined in the doorway by the light from outside Lily moved, crouching behind a chair.

Two men wrapped in dark cloth from head to toe emerged from the back hallway. Lily's heart leapt into her throat at the sight of Naruto's limp form slung under one man's arm. Atsuki charged the pair, and two things happened at once. Both men's hands moved, causing _water_ to condense from midair and rush forward in a wave that picked up Atsuki's body, slamming her into the wall with vicious force.

The second thing that happened was that Lily took a step forward to hurl a stunning spell at the man holding Naruto, only to be grabbed from behind by a third assailant who wasn't been moving fast enough to trigger her kinetic ward. The shinobi wrenched her arm behind her back, efficiently stripping her wand from her fingers. His other hand pressed a damp wad of cloth over Lily's nose and mouth.

Halting her breath, Lily struggled silently. She tried to claw at her attacker's masked face with her free hand; she also stomped on his foot, but he didn't even react. Atsuki started to get up off the floor, only to meet a brutal kick to the side of her head that put her down for the count. Lily's captor wrenched her trapped arm up brutally, and she couldn't help a reflexive gasp of pain. That breath filled her lungs and nostrils with a cloying chemical odor that set her head spinning. A moment later, she fell into remorseless blackness.


	9. Peril

Chapter Nine: Peril

* * *

"Damn it A, this isn't what we agreed to!"

Lily's return to consciousness was slow and hazy. Her spinning head ached fiercely, and loud voices hammered at her ears.

"We agreed that we'd take what Konoha has to strengthen Kumo, B," a harsher voice answered. "How we do that is my concern, not yours."

"I could have done this without violence, A," B's familiar voice said, clearly frustrated and upset. "You said you'd give me time to build a relationship and convince her to come live with me in Kumo willingly! What the hell are _they_ doing here anyway?" The last was asked with clear disgust.

"I lied, B," was A's flat reply. "I never actually wanted the Kyuubi brat or his mother in Kumo. Our _friends_ from Kiri are here to take both of them and deliver our true prize."

"What?" B's exclamation was stunned and hurt.

 _Wha- what happened?_ Lily wondered as her head cleared. Slowly, memories of entering her sister's house and being attacked came back to her as she listened to the argument.

"Kumo already has two jinchuuriki," A explained in annoyance. "You and Yugito are all the bijuu power we need. A third – especially this brat – would just scare the other villages into allying against us. Yagura, on the other hand, has coveted a subordinate jinchuuriki ever since the Rokubi's vessel went missing. So while Konoha had their attention focused on your obvious attempt at subversion, these charming fellows had an opening to snatch the kid and his mother. In compensation, we get something valuable that Yagura doesn't want: the last prisoners left over from his bloodline purge. We've already taken delivery of most of them, and that punk over there is the cream of the crop; he's ours now, too."

Assessing her situation, Lily discovered that they were near the shore of a small pond deep in the woods; she couldn't see the lights of Konoha in any direction. She was bound hand and foot, her wrists and ankles trapped behind her back and lashed to a tree trunk. B, A and the three masked shinobi from Mebuki's house – Mist shinobi who used water attacks, not lightning – stood nearby. One of the latter had Lily's wand hooked on his belt and was holding onto a frightened, sobbing Naruto. There was also a skinny dark-haired boy of perhaps eight or nine tied to the next tree over. His expression was set and his dark eyes devoid of any feeling as he watched their captors.

Down by the waterline Lily could see three more Mist shinobi, all women with blue hair and bare faces. They knelt at points equidistant around the water with their eyes closed, and they were doing something that made the surface of the whole pond shimmer faintly with rainbow colors.

"Mommy! Mommy, help me," Naruto wailed, earning a sharp cuff from the shinobi holding him.

"Don't touch him you bastard," Lily cried out, struggling against the coarse rope cutting into her wrists. The Mist shinobi looked unimpressed.

"Oh look B, your girlfriend is awake," A noted with a cruel grin, "though she might not be so kindly disposed now as she was earlier."

"Damn it A," B growled before turning around. "Lily, I-"

"Save it," Lily cut him off. "I don't want to hear any more lies."

B's face fell. "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I thought-"

"-what, that you'd convince me to bring my son to Kumo for you?" Lily asked scornfully. "I heard."

B sighed. "Yeah, looks like that was never going to happen." He slid between the Mist shinobi and crouched in front of Lily. "For what it's worth, I really am sorry," he repeated. Using his broad body as a shield, B dropped something in the grass near her bound hands. A quick glance down showed Lily her wand, no longer on the belt of the Mist shinobi. Keeping her shock off of her face, she subtly shifted her position, moving her legs to cover it. "Good luck," B said sadly, straightening and stepping away.

"The genjutsu will be maintained through the night," the leader of the Mist shinobi said curtly to B and A, gesturing to the trio of women surrounding the pond. "The Leaf ninja's search pattern will pass over our location, and in the morning we will go our separate ways with our prizes."

"As agreed," A grunted. He set off toward a tent a little ways away with B following along, still arguing. Two of the Mist shinobi – including the one holding Naruto – headed for a tent closer by, while the third settled in to keep watch.

Left mostly alone with the dark-haired boy who was apparently the 'bloodline user' A wanted, "What's your name?" Lily whispered.

He studied her silently for a moment before speaking. "Haku," he said quietly.

"Hey, shut up or I'll gag the both of you," the sentry Mist shinobi warned. Lily obediently kept quiet, studying her captor instead. When he disappeared into the trees for a few moments Lily moved her legs again and picked up her wand, hiding it between her bound arms. A glance at Haku showed that he'd noticed what she was doing, and she detected a faint note of curiosity enter his guarded eyes.

Lily could faintly hear the voices of Naruto and the other Mist shinobi in the tent. After some time had passed and the moon was high in the sky, one of them emerged with Naruto in tow. He relieved the previous sentry, who then went into the tent.

"Your brat hasn't been very obedient, bitch," the Mist shinobi informed Lily. "That's a shame, because the first lesson is simple: when you're not a good boy, your mommy's going to take the punishment for you." He dragged Naruto along to watch as he crouched over Lily.

"Mom! No, leave her alone," Naruto cried out.

"Are you going to start obeying, brat?" The Mist shinobi demanded.

"I will," Naruto wailed, "don't hurt my mommy!"

Lily's eyes narrowed. "You're just making this easier," she whispered. Since getting her wand back Lily had been wrestling with the unforgivable things she was going to have to do to survive and protect Naruto, but the shinobi's cruel words filled her with a cold certainty.

"What did you say, bitch?" he demanded, raising his hand to strike her.

Feigning a cringe in anticipation of the blow, Lily moved her body to the side as far as she could and pointed her wand at the Mist shinobi. "Imperio," she hissed. The puff of greenish light crossed the short distance before he could recoil, and when it struck he froze in place.

"Untie me," Lily commanded, and the Mist shinobi hastened to obey as Naruto and Haku stared in shock.

"Mommy… what?" Naruto mumbled, confused.

"Not now, sweetie," Lily murmured, rubbing feeling back into her limbs once she was free. She gave Haku an evaluating look. "You want to escape?" Haku nodded eagerly. "Untie him, too," she commanded her helpless puppet. Once free Haku got to his feet with surprising quickness, considering he'd been tied up longer than Lily had. _Then again, he must be a shinobi's child, maybe even trained a little._

"Come close," Lily whispered to Naruto and Haku. Slipping her arm around both of them, Lily cast the spell to apparate them safely away – but nothing happened. Frowning, she tried again. Again the spell dissolved, and this time she felt a tug from the direction of the ritualists by the pond. One of them stirred and looked around for a moment before closing her eyes again.

Lily said several bad words in her head; whatever they were doing to hide the area was preventing her from apparating away. "We're going to have to get away from here on foot," Lily told the children. She cast a spell to muffle the sound of their movement before leading them into the woods, away from the pond. "You, watch our backs and stop anyone who gives chase," she commanded her puppet, who nodded woodenly and trailed behind them.

Naruto was only five and tired from a long day and a night without sleep. Lily was fatigued as well, but took him in her arms so they could make better time. Haku surprised her by keeping up easily, even though he looked abused and undernourished.

Once they reached a clearing a fair distance away from the pond Lily decided to try apparition again. "Come clo-" she started to say, but was cut off by a thunderclap, shockingly close. She watched in horror as A appeared in a flicker of motion, lashing out with a punch that caved in the head of her subverted Mist shinobi. "Petri-" she started to move her wand, but A's dark eyes fixed her with a murderous scowl. He waved his hand, and while he was too far away to actually strike her, his movement created a pressure wave that struck Lily and threw her back into a tree, the impact knocking the wind out of her.

"You stupid bitch," A growled, "you could have made it to Kiri alive; now you're just dead." Lily looked her own death in the eyes as he drew his hand back for a finishing blow. Before A could strike, however, his eyes flicked to the side, and then he vanished. A meter-wide fireball landed where he had stood, vaporizing the grass just past Lily's feet. She felt the heat wash over her, and then hands on her arm. She struggled reflexively until the new arrival spoke.

"Easy, Lily," Atsuki murmured in her ear, and Lily sagged in relief. "Cavalry's here." When her vision cleared from the flash of fire she saw Atsuki had half a dozen Leaf shinobi with her; one had already picked up Naruto.

"Shit, it's the Raikage!" One of the masked Leaf shinobi called out. A fraction of a second later he had a hole through his chest and A's fist was wrapped around the shattered remains of his spine. Electricity cracked and sparked around A's body, shrouding him in a silver-white aura. The shadows from the arcs of power made his cruel face absolutely demonic in appearance.

The Leaf shinobi scattered, but A flickered after the one carrying Naruto, killing him in midair. Naruto plummeted from his dead rescuer's grasp, and Lily's heart leapt into her throat as she cast a levitation charm to slow his fall. Haku darted out from behind a tree and caught the smaller boy before he hit the ground, the impact sending them both sprawling. "The rest of you can run or die, but the brats and that bitch," he pointed at Lily, "are staying."

The surviving Leaf shinobi wavered for a moment, until Atsuki spoke. "Sorry, I'm the guardian of the Haruno. I don't abandon my kin," she shot back, tightening her grip on Lily's shoulder.

"Your funeral," A shrugged, vanishing again. Aware of Atsuki right next to her, Lily nonetheless cast a barrier spell. No sooner had it appeared than A's charge struck and broke the magical wall. It slowed him down a bit, though, and Atsuki turned Lily away, taking the brunt of his blow herself. Lily heard Atsuki's scream and snapping bones as they were thrown to the grass.

Wide-eyed, Lily stared at Atsuki. "Why?" she gasped when she found her breath.

"Oath… trumps my personal feelings," Atsuki replied with a pained grimace. She tried to get up, but slumped back to the grass, passing out from the pain. Meanwhile the last three Leaf shinobi had rallied to Atsuki's defense, only to be struck down with equal viciousness. When Lily struggled to her feet, hurting all over, she and A were the only people left standing.

In a flash A was on Lily, his hand wrapping around her throat and lifting her off of the ground. She couldn't breathe, and the touch of his electric aura was like fire on her exposed skin. "What did my poor brother see in a weak, pathetic thing like you?" he jeered.

Lily had retained her grip on her wand through all of the pummeling, and A seemed to have discounted it as a weapon. She angled it toward A's body and tried to speak the words, but his grip on her throat was too tight. "What was that? Couldn't quite hear you," A gloated. Stars were dancing in front of Lily's eyes, and she could feel the cartilage of her throat threatening to collapse.

"Stop it!" Haku yelled. The temperature in the clearing went from slightly cool to freezing in an instant. Glaring at A, Haku raised his free arm, the other shielding Naruto. A wide spike of ice condensed out of thin air, flying toward the Raikage.

A contemptuously blew the spike apart with a wave of his hand and a crack of lightning, but his grip on Lily's neck loosened slightly for a moment, letting her draw a ragged breath. She knew only one spell guaranteed to stop the monster of a man throttling the life from her. A was too powerful for a stunner or even a full body bind to work, and individuals of exceptional will could shake off the Imperius Curse.

"Avada… kedavra…" The flash of green light filled the clearing, and in the afterimage, Lily could almost see Professor Dumbledore's disappointed face.

A's fingers went slack, and Lily fell to her knees, coughing and rubbing her bruised neck. She watched the giant of a man topple backwards, but another flicker of motion entered the clearing, and thick arms caught the Raikage before he hit the ground. "A! Brother, no," B cried out.

Lily's eyes met B's over his brother's corpse and she saw the mixture of rage and guilt on his face. She had a moment to wonder if he would kill her now, if she could even stop him. _I won't use the Killing Curse on B. I can't._

The moment passed, and Lily heard boots striking branches and turf behind her; many boots. B looked past her, and then he flickered and vanished, taking A's body with him. Lily slipped her wand down the front of her tattered dress before turning around.

Once again hands helped Lily to her feet. This time they were wrinkled and age-spotted. Lily looked up in surprise to see the Hokage himself, wearing armor rather than his usual robes. "Ms. Haruno," he said gravely. "You don't know how glad I am to see you well."

 _I know whose safety you're really relieved about._ One of Hiruzen's attendants had scooped up Naruto and brought him close. Naruto wrapped his arms around Lily's neck and he wouldn't be separated from her. Lily endured the discomfort of his grip on her bruised flesh. "I'm grateful for the timely rescue," Lily replied hoarsely, "and I grieve for the loss of these brave men."

Hiruzen nodded, looking sadly at the five bodies scattered around the clearing. Medics were already tending to Atsuki. "Did my eyes deceive me, or was that Killer B fleeing with the Raikage himself when we arrived?"

"It was," one of the ANBU replied. "The Raikage wasn't moving, sir," he added, "Killer B was _carrying_ him."

"What happened here?" Hiruzen asked.

Lily took a deep breath, but before she could speak Naruto piped up. "Mommy beat the bad man! It was awesome!"

Lily winced as every eye in the clearing focused in on her. "Is that true?" Hiruzen asked.

"How could I possibly have defeated the Raikage?" Lily asked innocently, heart hammering. "I'm not even a shinobi. All I achieved this evening was getting kidnapped. They fought the Raikage together," Lily lied, gesturing to the fallen band of scouts. "Atsuki wounded him before she fell."

The other shinobi in the clearing seemed to accept that explanation; after all, how could a powerless civilian stand up to a kage? Still, Hiruzen studied Lily with a long, unreadable look. "Remarkable," he murmured at last.

"Should we pursue, sir?" another ANBU asked.

Hiruzen shook his head. "Kumo has suffered a defeat already. Chasing down Killer B would cost more lives than he's worth. As for Kiri… their reckoning will come." Looking around, Hiruzen spotted Haku, who had been hovering warily around the edge of the gathering. "And who is this?"

Haku looked half ready to dart away, until Lily moved over to him and rested her free hand on the boy's shoulder. "Haku was going to be traded to the Raikage as payment for his aid in our abductions." Lily knelt by his side. "Do you have a home to return to?"

Haku shook his head silently, and Lily glimpsed pure anguish in his expression. She felt sympathy for the boy, and he had saved her and Naruto when he could have just run away. "Would you like to stay with Naruto and me, then?" Lily asked softly. Tears welled up in Haku's eyes and he nodded; a moment later Lily was being hugged fervently from both sides.

* * *

 _One Week Later_

"Huh; I didn't think I'd see _you_ at my bedside," a sleepy voice observed.

Putting away the book she'd been reading, Lily smiled despite herself. "Love you too, cousin," she replied lightly to Atsuki.

After she'd been stabilized on the battlefield, Atsuki had been carried back to Konoha on a stretcher and sent straight into surgery at the hospital. Her right arm and leg were in hard casts to set the multiple breaks from A's frighteningly powerful attack, and she'd also suffered multiple broken ribs and internal injuries.

"I'm here because I wanted to say thank you for saving us," Lily continued, folding her hands in her lap, "and to apologize for-"

Atsuki held up the hand she could still move. "Save it Lily," she growled.

Lily paused, feeling slightly hurt. "But…"

Atsuki sighed. "Look, it's like I said to that bastard the Raikage: I'm the guardian, and you're a Haruno. That means your safety is my responsibility, even if I don't like the choices you've made or that brat of yours. I don't want your thanks or your guilt. I was just doing my job."

"All right," Lily murmured.

"I had an interesting conversation when I got out of surgery," Atsuki said after a pregnant pause. "The Hokage himself commended me for defending you and Naruto at great personal cost. He also seemed impressed that I'd managed to wound the Raikage." She gave Lily a direct look. "I was pretty impressed, too, since I don't remember doing that."

Lily winced. "Atsuki…" She'd come prepared to use another memory charm on her cousin, but she really didn't want to.

"I'm a pragmatist, Lily," Atsuki interrupted again. "I don't really care what you did with that piece of wood you hide in your sleeve, or how it works. Didn't mention it to the Hokage either; none of his business. I'm alive when I should be dead, and apparently when I can get out of bed and go check my bank account I'm going to be impressed with what I see. So your secret's safe, whatever it is."

Lily nodded slowly. "Okay… thank you, Atsuki."

"This doesn't mean we're friends, Lily," Atsuki growled.

Lily fought an amused smile. "Perish the thought." Atsuki turned away and closed her eyes. Taking that as her cue to leave, Lily stepped out of the room.

In the hallway outside, Naruto and Haku were perched on chairs of their own. Naruto was reading a picture book, while Haku was warily studying a man leaning against the wall nearby. He was a lanky Leaf shinobi who looked to be just shy of twenty years old. He had long, spiky silver hair, and wore his hitai-ate at an angle to cover his left eye. Lily recognized Kakashi Hatake from Kushina's memories of her husband's apprentice.

"Yo," Kakashi greeted her lazily.

"Can I help you, young man?" Lily asked politely.

"I'm here to help you, actually," Kakashi replied. "We need to talk; Hokage's orders."

"I'd like to see some identification first, mister…?" Lily said with a frown. Kakashi sighed, but pulled out his shinobi ID, complete with a tiny picture of a younger but equally bored-looking version of him. "…all right," Lily said at last. "What does the Hokage want?"

"Two things," Kakashi replied. "First off, these have all been approved and signed." he held out a package of documents. When Lily took them, she could see they were papers of naturalization for Haku, a document naming her as his guardian, and an acceptance for Haku to attend the Konoha Shinobi Academy.

Lily moved over to Haku and knelt next to his chair. "Look at this, Haku," she said, showing him the papers. His dark eyes flickered over them quickly.

"I get to stay here?" Haku asked hopefully.

Smiling, Lily nodded. "That's right. Welcome to the family." Unshed tears glistening in his eyes, Haku hugged her tightly.

Lily hadn't been able to hide that Haku was a shinobi child; apparently even at eight years of age his chakra was strong enough for older shinobi to remark upon it. Lily had, however, made no mention to anyone of Haku's ice bloodline. She'd decided right away that would be his secret to share with others if he chose. For his part, Haku had spoken to no one about what he'd seen of her spell work during their escape, though he did give her the occasional curious look.

"So what was the other matter?" Lily asked Kakashi after rising to her feet. He coughed, and she saw his one visible eye dart toward the children.

"Haku, Naruto, let's head home, yes?" Lily said to them. Once outside the hospital Haku walked a little ways ahead of Lily and Kakashi with his new little brother in tow, giving them some privacy.

Kakashi spoke quietly. "The other matter is that I'm your new tenant."

Lily blinked. "I haven't advertised for a tenant," she replied.

Kakashi shrugged. "Well you've got one anyways." Noting the look of disapproval on Lily's face, he continued. "I'm not crazy about this either, but my orders are clear. After what happened last week, the Hokage has concluded that you and Naruto need better security. So whenever there isn't a full ANBU team watching over you, I'll be there."

"You're that good?" Lily asked sarcastically.

Kakashi simply nodded. "I am. What happened to you and your son would not have taken place if I had been present. So let me do my job, please."

Lily nodded reluctantly. "All right."

She didn't believe for a second that Kakashi had been sent only as an added layer of security for Naruto. Most likely, he was also under orders to observe her, which would make her research and spell work practice harder. But Lily understood far better now the threat to Naruto and herself, so she'd deal with the inconvenience.


	10. First Interlude: Stirring in the Dark

First Interlude: Stirring in the Dark

* * *

"The Raikage is dead, Leader."

"Get to the part where I care please, Sasori."

"The Raikage is dead, and no one can say how he died."

"That's more interesting. Explain."

"The Raikage and the vessel of the Hachibi assisted operatives from Kiri in abducting the vessel of the Kyuubi and his adoptive mother. This civilian woman managed to escape them with two children in tow. The Raikage pursued, and engaged a unit of Leaf shinobi who arrived to protect them. According to Konoha's incident report one of those scouts wounded the Raikage."

"You believe this report is inaccurate?"

"I do. Leaving aside the power difference between a kage and a few rank and file shinobi, the Kyuubi vessel's mother and the children were alone with the Raikage for roughly a minute after their defenders were defeated. When the bulk of the Leaf forces arrived, the Raikage was dead – though they did not realize this at the time – and the Hachibi's vessel retreated with the body."

"Then the Raikage died after the only fighters in the area were defeated? Does that not bear out the possibility that the Raikage simply suffered an unlucky blow and succumbed to the wound?"

"I'm afraid not. The best forensic specialists in Kumo have examined the Raikage's body, and none of them can explain how he died. He took no wounds – contrary to Konoha's official reports – and suffered from no lethal ailments. There was no internal injury or damage to his chakra network. The toxicology screening came up negative. The Raikage is dead, yet there is no physical reason why that should be so. The only individual I have previously encountered capable of killing in such a manner is-"

"Yes Sasori, I understand. Could the Kyuubi have woken from slumber within its vessel and taken on the Raikage?"

"Unlikely. The Fourth Hokage did his work well on the vessel's seal. Beyond that the boy is both young and untrained."

"Then what of this woman, the vessel's mother? What do you know about her?"

"Lily Haruno is a civilian from a family with mercantile interests throughout the Land of Fire. She has no assessed chakra potential or formal combat training. Her professional background is in technical writing and contract law, and she works for the family business. She's almost aggressively average. If I were to create a cover identity for an infiltrator to enter Konoha, Lily Haruno is the kind of individual I would manufacture; which is in itself telling."

"Indeed".

"The only unusual thing about Ms. Haruno prior to her abduction is that she adopted the vessel of the Kyuubi voluntarily at a time when she faced social sanction for doing so, both from her neighbors and members of her own family."

"Curious. Do you have an image of this woman?"

"No; I'll work on adding a picture to her file."

"Please do. Zetsu?"

"Yes, Leader?"

"Once Sasori has completed his file, make a trip to Konoha. Observe this… 'Lily Haruno' from a distance and do not alert the Leaf ninja to your presence. That particular pot doesn't need any more stirring just yet."

"As you command."


	11. Planning

Chapter Ten: Planning

* * *

Kushina studied the shack curiously as she approached it. Located in the middle of nowhere in the Scottish moors, it appeared to be in poor repair and halfway to falling down. It also appeared deserted. "This seems like another dead end, Sirius," Kushina noted dubiously. "That place doesn't look livable, much less lived-in. How hard can your friend be to find?"

Walking beside her with Harry's hand in his, Sirius chuckled. "Well it's not like I've kept up a regular correspondence with him over the last few years," he noted, "I've been a fugitive, and he hardly needs any more trouble in his life, so I've kept my distance."

"Yes, you've been deliberately vague about your friend's 'troubles'," Kushina noted with irritation. "Is this going to be a problem?"

"Not unless we stumble upon him during a full moon," Sirius muttered before raising his voice. "Oi, Remus, you in there?"

After a pause, a reedy voice emerged from the shack's broken window. "If you've come with torches or pitchforks, I'll thank you to kindly sod off! I'm already living as far from everyone else as I can!"

"C'mon Mooney," Sirius called back, looking delighted. "It's your old buddy Padfoot! Don't I get a hello, at least?"

The door to the shack banged open, and Kushina got a glimpse of a short, thin wizard with mouse-brown hair and a narrow face dressed in simple, well-worn robes. His wand was in hand, but once he saw Sirius it vanished into his sleeve. "Bloody hell," Remus exclaimed. "Sirius, is that you?" He crossed the distance and caught Sirius up in a surprisingly fierce hug for such a small man.

"It's good to see you, my friend," Sirius said.

"It is," Remus agreed. "Where have you been, Sirius? It's been five years since your escape. You never thought to come say hello?"

Sirius sighed. "I didn't want to make trouble for you, Remus. We both know there are people who would rush to condemn you just for talking to me."

"That's nonsense," Remus scoffed. "You could have sent an owl at least."

Sirius looked a bit guilty. "I've also been… busy." Harry had been gazing out at Remus apprehensively from behind Sirius' leg, but his godfather coaxed him out into the open. "Harry, this is Remus Lupin, your dad's best friend – after me, of course. Remus… Harry Potter."

With a happy, almost reverent expression Remus knelt in front of Harry and offered a hand, which the little boy shyly shook. "It's so nice to meet you, Harry," Remus said. "I'm sure Sirius has told you this, but you look just like James did as a lad. Except the eyes; you've got your mother's eyes."

Harry giggled at the last, shaking his head before looking at Kushina. "That's silly; mommy's eyes are blue!"

Sirius looked up at Kushina, startled. She offered her hand in turn, pulling him back to his feet. "I'm Kushina Uzumaki," she introduced herself. "Harry's my son. It was Lily's wish that I take him under my care."

Remus looked skeptical, but Sirius hastened to add, "It's true, Remus… and a very long story."

"Well, why don't you all come in," Remus said. Catching Kushina's dubious look at the leaning, ratty shack, he chuckled. "I promise it's nicer on the inside."

"Before you invite us in, you should know that we've had Death Eaters on our tail for a while," Sirius warned. "It's what brought us here, actually. We could use your advice."

"You shall have it," Remus replied immediately, "and if any Death Eaters come out here, they'll regret it. Come in, come in."

Kushina's eyes widened as soon as she stepped through the door. Remus was, if anything, a master of understatement. The inside of the shack was impossibly large in comparison to its outer appearance, and while the furnishings were plain and functional, they were also clean and well-kept. Almost every available wall was covered with bookshelves, and she could swear she even saw a few books that were moving on their own.

"As I told you, Kushina, Remus was always the scholar of our little band in school," Sirius said, "and he's yet to rid himself of the habit of burying his nose in books at every opportunity."

"Well we couldn't all be obsessed with brooms and bludgers," Remus shot back with good humor as he waved his wand at a kettle, which not only proceeded to heat water but set out a tea service all by itself. "Someone actually had to do the assigned reading or none of the Marauders would have graduated." He paused. "I trust Sirius has told you about the Marauders, Ms. Uzumaki."

"In great detail, yes," Kushina replied, peering at an open book on one of the tables in fascination. Its pages of yellowed parchment were covered with handwritten scrawl and beautiful illustrations related to herb lore. One of the pictures moved while Kushina watched, displaying the proper method for gathering the seeds of an odd-looking plant.

Remus served them tea, and then Kushina calmly formed a shadow clone to take Harry to the next room so the adults could talk freely. Sirius didn't bat an eye, and Harry cheerfully greeted 'clone-mommy', but Remus' eyes were wide and his tea cup slipped from his hand. Kushina caught it in a thought-fast movement before it hit the floor.

"How- what- that's-" Remus stammered.

Sirius chuckled at his friend's reaction. "Like I said Sirius, it's a long story."

"Was that wandless magic?" Remus demanded. "What kind of spell creates…"

Kushina held up a hand. "My power is not magic," she explained calmly. "It's nothing like yours, because I'm… not from around here. Five years ago I died on another world, and on the path to the afterlife I met Lily Potter…" The story took some time to tell, and evening had fallen before Kushina was done.

"That's quite a tale," Remus admitted, sounding fascinated. "I'd be loath to believe it if Sirius wasn't vouching for you." He leaned back in his chair, looking out the window over the moors for a moment. "Most people who knew James and Lily were dismayed when Harry vanished; certainly Dumbledore was quietly frantic. I wasn't worried, though; I knew the Azkaban breakout and Harry's abduction couldn't be a coincidence." He pressed his fingertips together. "So, what brought you here? You said you needed my help?"

Sirius' expression became grim. "Death Eaters have kept finding us periodically for years. No matter where we run or how we cover our tracks, they're on our tail. Recently they've started coming with greater frequency."

"The last group was much cannier than the ones before," Kushina added, pulling up her left sleeve to reveal the raw, half-healed scars running up and down her arm. Healing quickly and cleanly was something she'd lost with the Kyuubi.

"We know now that the Death Eaters can sense Harry somehow, though the scar that You-Know-Who left him with," Sirius continued. "I can tell there's dark magic at work… but damned if I know how to fix it."

"I see," Remus murmured. "You were right to come to me. May I examine the scar?"

Remus studied Harry's scar for some time both before and after dinner, often quietly murmuring spells more complex than Kushina had ever heard from Sirius. After she had put Harry to bed in one of the spare rooms, she returned to see Remus with his nose deep in a book, with several more scattered around him.

"You two should go ahead and get some rest yourselves," Remus told them without looking up. "I have quite a bit of research to do; I won't have anything definitive before morning."

Sirius made himself at home in Remus' house with easy familiarity, while Kushina elected to stretch out in a comfortable armchair in the corner of Harry's room. Not fully trusting the defenses of a place she hadn't secured herself, Kushina watched her adopted son sleep for a short time before allowing herself to fall into a light doze.

* * *

Rising early, as was her habit, Kushina entered the study to find Remus and Sirius deep in conversation. "So you don't know what it is, either?" Sirius asked with dismay.

Remus shook his head slowly. "I've never seen or heard of anything like the construct in Harry's scar, Sirius. None of my references in obscure magic have given me any hints, either. Whatever's lurking in that scar is dark, right enough, but it's not just a spell. If we were dealing with pure magic I could create a counter spell given some time to work, but there's… more substance to what's lurking in Harry's scar."

"I have no idea what you're talking about Remus," Sirius replied in frustration.

"I'd say that what's in that scar is a piece of someone else's soul, if I hadn't been taught that was impossible," Remus sighed. "If it weren't Harry, you could just take him to the Department of Mysteries, but anyone knowledgeable enough to help you would know who he is at a glance, and take him from you."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed glumly. "That's why I thought I'd give you a try."

Remus stroked his narrow chin thoughtfully. "Do you remember when I stayed at your house the summer after we graduated?"

Sirius snorted. "How could I forget? Mother looked down her nose like she'd smelled something bad the whole time."

Remus chuckled. "True. Do you remember when you stole one of the books from her private collection in retaliation for her poor manners?"

Sirius nodded slowly. "I do."

"That book… it was full of dark magic, and I remember that it had an entire section devoted to dark spells meant to affect the soul directly."

Sirius shivered. "Like the Killing Curse?"

Remus shook his head. "Nothing as simple as that, no."

"Well, what did the book say?"

Remus chuckled. "No idea; I never got past the table of contents. Your mother caught us with the book and kicked me out of the house."

Sirius leaned back in his chair. "Well if the book belonged to mother, it's not anywhere that I can get at it, unfortunately."

"Where is it?" Kushina asked sharply from her spot leaning in the doorway.

Sirius turned to Kushina. "After my mother died her effects were added to the voluminous contents of my family's vault in Gringott's, the goblin bank. Beyond my reach I'm afraid."

"If it's your vault, why wouldn't you be able to access it?" Kushina asked.

"Because my mother disowned me before her death," Sirius replied with a sigh, "and this is the first time I've ever had cause to regret it. At the time, being cast off from my family was a relief."

"Okay, so who can access your family's vault?" Kushina pressed.

"At this point, no one," Sirius answered grimly. "There aren't many Blacks left, and the current heir – my delightful cousin Bella – is serving a _deserved_ life sentence in Azkaban."

Remus coughed. "That's… not entirely true," he murmured.

Sirius blinked. "Pardon?"

Remus turned a resigned gaze to the ceiling. "You know how the Ministry never likes to look bad or incompetent? Like how they claimed publicly that your escape was during a 'prisoner transfer', and not from Azkaban itself?" Sirius nodded slowly. "Well I was drinking with Kingsley Shacklebolt a few years ago, and he let slip that you weren't the only prisoner to be freed from Azkaban that night."

"Don't tell me…" Sirius growled.

"Bellatrix escaped too," Remus acknowledged wearily. "By the time they restored order to the prison and started checking the cell blocks, she was gone. Apparently she picked the lock on her cell, put a shiv in the nearest auror and apparated out with his wand. The Ministry kept it hushed up because they wanted to recapture her quietly. They figured she was so unstable that she'd slip up… except she hasn't. No one's seen or heard from her in years."

Sirius buried his face in his hands for a moment before looking up at Kushina. "Well there you have it," he noted bitterly. "There is one person who can access the Black vault in Gringott's; my cousin Bella, one of the five most dangerous Death Eaters to serve You-Know-Who prior to his defeat."

"All right," Kushina replied calmly. "So this Bella can access the vault. How? What's the procedure?"

Remus and Sirius exchanged a look. "There's a key that opens most Gringott's vaults," Remus offered, "held by its rightful owner. Presumably Bella had or has the Black key."

"What happens when someone inevitably loses their key?" Kushina asked.

"The goblins will make them a new one – for a fee – provided they're an owner. They verify an individual's magical attunement to the vault first, of course."

"So when you say your mother disowned you, Sirius… does that mean the vault won't recognize you as a Black?" Kushina pressed.

Looking surprised, Sirius shook his head. "The spells on the vault test blood and the magical core. It would recognize mine… but Kushina, even if I could make it into Gringott's without being arrested, the goblins wouldn't make me a new key. They _do_ care about the disowning thing."

Kushina smiled. "Oh, I wasn't suggesting we have _you_ open the vault," she purred.

Remus got it first and started laughing. Sirius was a few seconds behind, and his eyes narrowed. "No," he said flatly.

Remus laughed harder. "Oh come now, Sirius; you'd look downright _fetching_ in Bella's usual wardrobe."

"No!" Sirius exclaimed, scowling.

"Not even for Harry?" Kushina asked sweetly.

"I am not wearing a dress," Sirius said flatly, "especially not the kind Bella wore!"

"Oh come on, it won't be so bad," Kushina replied reasonably. "Tell you what, I'll wear one too; for moral support."

That got a thoughtful pause out of Sirius, and lit a mischievous gleam in his eye that made Kushina slightly wary. "Now that I'd pay to see," he admitted.

"So you'll do it?" Kushina asked.

"Even if I did agree – and I haven't – we don't have the ingredients for a Polyjuice Potion," Sirius cautioned, "specifically, we've got nothing of Bella's."

"Oh, I wasn't thinking we'd use your tricks," Kushina replied. "I was planning to use one of mine."

Sirius groaned, jabbing a finger at Remus. "Not. A. Word," he said warningly before turning to Kushina. "I'll do this, under one condition," he informed her.

"What's that?" Kushina asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Photographic evidence," Sirius replied with a grin, "that you wore one of Bella's outfits."

That got a fierce blush out of Kushina, and she glanced at Remus. "Exactly how trashy are we talking, here?"

Remus coughed into his fist. "I certainly never had any complaints about what Bella wore… or didn't," he said slowly, "that said, you'd probably get some fairly lucrative offers if you wandered into the wrong parts of Diagon Alley."

"Great," Kushina sighed. She gave Sirius a stern look. "You can have your picture, so long as Harry never sees it. _Ever_."

Sirius raised a hand. "On my honor," he promised.

Remus got up from his seat and pulled down a few books along with a thick folio that looked to have blueprints in it. "If you two are going into Gringott's, you'd best be well versed in its layout and defenses – just in case anything goes wrong."


	12. The Heist

Chapter Eleven: The Heist

* * *

"These clothes are riding up in places I don't actually have," Sirius Black complained. Kushina was still getting used to 'his' voice: a feminine, purring rasp that made her skin crawl a bit for all that she'd engineered his transformation. Normally applying a henge to another person was tricky bordering on impossible, but as a fuuinjutsu master she could cheat a bit. The seal she'd inked on Sirius' back would hold him in Bellatrix's image until it ran out of chakra or she dispelled it.

"Yes, well, I'm not exactly comfortable, either," Kushina shot back. "I haven't worn a corset since… well, before I had Naruto. At least your face is covered." Sirius wasn't wearing his own face, but apparently his cousin was even more widely hated in magical Britain than he was. Diagon Alley was its beating heart, so he wore a hat with a heavy veil.

"My face is the only part of me that is adequately covered! Remus will never let me live this down," Sirius muttered.

Studying Sirius' outfit and her own, Kushina had to admit that there was a reason they were both attracting a lot of looks from passersby. Bellatrix's wardrobe apparently was all black and tended toward low-cut, tight dresses with lots of leather around the sleeves and waist, accented by straps and lace elsewhere and leaving plenty of skin exposed. _I'd have had to clean up Minato's drool with a mop if he'd seen me in something like this,_ Kushina reflected wryly. Unlike Sirius her face was uncovered, though she'd made use of a minor henge to make her hair and eyes dark and her features more aristocratic.

A few blocks into Diagon Alley Sirius' pace slowed when he spotted a wanted poster pinned to a notice board. "Huh. I guess it's a good thing you're in disguise too, Kushina," he noted.

"Why?" Sirius pointed silently. Moving closer, Kushina studied the poster. "What the- that's me!"

"Looks like it," Sirius agreed. The picture of her face was not only photo-accurate but moving on a short loop. Someone had rather artistically added blood spatters to Kushina's cheeks and put a shifty, almost deranged look in her eyes that screamed 'criminal'.

"WANTED: Abductor of the 'Boy who Lived'," the poster actually announced in an authoritative male voice. "In addition to kidnapping, this witch is implicated in multiple violent murders. If seen, contact the Ministry of Magic. Do not confront."

Sirius watched Kushina's face slowly turned redder as she listened. "How did your authorities get that image?" Kushina asked. "The only people who know what I look like and that I protect Harry are Death Eaters!"

Sirius sighed. "The Death Eaters infiltrated the Ministry of Magic under You-Know-Who. It would seem that they still have some influence."

Kushina frowned. "But how would it benefit them even if the aurors did take Harry from me?"

Sirius scratched his chin. "No idea," he confessed, "but we have to assume they have a plan." He rested a hand on Kushina's shoulder, feeling the tension in her frame. "C'mon, nothing we can do about that right now."

"Fine, but I'm going to find out who's responsible for this," Kushina growled ominously, cracking her knuckles. "Just see if I don't."

* * *

Settling down to his afternoon tea, Professor Dumbledore sneezed loudly.

"Bless you, Headmaster," Minerva Mcgonagall murmured over her own teacup.

Dumbledore chuckled. "Someone must be talking about me," he murmured as he added a generous dollop of honey to his drink.

* * *

Kushina and Sirius made it to Gringott's without being challenged - only ogled. Inside, Sirius took the lead while Kushina kept her eyes open. The bank floor thronged with wizards, witches and goblins, while behind the high counters more goblins towered over their customers despite their diminutive height.

For all that Sirius clearly loathed his cousin he did a fine job of mimicking the movements Kushina had witnessed in Remus' pensieve when Sirius had shown her his memories of Bella so she could craft the henge. Bellatrix moved with an effortless grace that was occasionally interrupted by manic changes in direction and focus. Kushina had been impressed and made wary by the speed of movement she had noted as well.

Sirius glided up to an empty counter and somehow managed to glare down his nose at the teller looming above him. "Goblin," he demanded stridently, "I am here to access my vault." He lifted his veil enough for the goblin in a dark suit to see it, and Kushina saw the goblin's eyes widen slightly before he glanced down at his ledger.

"Very well, Ms. Lestrange," the goblin replied in a reedy voice, "your key?"

 _Here we go,_ Kushina thought.

Sirius huffed irritably. "My key has gone missing. I require a replacement."

The goblin frowned. "Unfortunate," he muttered. "You are aware that the fee for creating a replacement will be debited from your existing funds in the amount of one hundred galleons?"

Sirius waved his hand dismissively. "Yes, yes," he replied breezily. "It is of no concern to me. Work quickly."

That actually earned a glare from the tiny goblin, but he scribbled away in his ledger before climbing down from his perch. A doorway opened in the paneling before them, and the goblin beckoned. "This way please, Ms. Lestrange, and…" he looked at Kushina curiously.

"Ignore the squib," Sirius spat, "she's only here to fetch and carry." Kushina fixed her gaze on the floor, looking suitably chastened. The goblin only shrugged and vanished into the revealed hallway. Sirius and Kushina followed.

"Aren't you laying it on a bit heavy?" Kushina asked quietly. "That goblin looked like he would cheerfully stab you. We're trying to avoid notice here."

"If I didn't act like that they would be more suspicious," Sirius explained. "This is what Bella is like."

At the end of the hallway the goblin had already climbed into a mine cart. Sirius followed suit and took up most of the seat, with Kushina squeezing herself in on one side. The goblin pulled a lever, and off they flew. Kushina reflexively grabbed for the edge as they approached the first sharp turn in the tracks, but the abrupt change in inertia she'd been anticipating never occurred. Sirius didn't even flinch, while the goblin gave Kushina a condescending look. _Right,_ Kushina reminded herself, _magic._

The stomach-churning ride through the goblin tunnels went on for several minutes, and Kushina struggled to keep track of how many turns they'd taken by the end. She didn't want to have to try and get out of Gringott's vaults on foot, but acknowledged the possibility.

When the cart slowed and stopped, Kushina noted immediately that they were not alone. Sirius stepped out of the cart onto a wide platform in front of an ornate vault door carved into the bedrock, and he frowned at the two armed and armored goblins waiting for them, accompanied by four constructs that Kushina realized after a moment of study were empty suits of golden armor that nonetheless moved and tracked the new arrivals with their heads. "What is the meaning of… all this?" Sirius demanded, waving a hand at the unexpected security.

"A precaution only, Ms. Lestrange," their guide replied with an oily smile. "It has recently been made policy here at Gringott's whenever a key has to be replaced."

Sirius huffed. "Very well; get on with it. I don't have all day."

"Form your connection with the vault, Ms. Lestrange. If it accepts you, your replacement key will be formed."

Sirius lazily raised his wand, while Kushina swallowed hard. _Let's hope this works._ A beam of light sprang from the tip of Sirius' wand, striking the lock on the vault door. A moment later energy pulsed back along that line from the vault itself. Sirius held still, letting the magic flow back and forth. The goblin studied the display before nodding grudgingly. "The vault recognizes you. Now we will form the key." He carefully raised a blank key, placing it in the line of argent magical energy. It was seized in the flow, and drifted into the lock under its own power. A moment later the magic faded and Sirius lowered his wand. The goblin removed the key, which was now notched to match the lock, and examined it before handing it to Sirius.

Sirius didn't offer any thanks, only stepping around the goblin and turning the new key in the lock. Metal slithered and moved all across the door's surface, and when it stopped there was an opening before them. "Come now, squib," Sirius instructed Kushina harshly. She obediently followed him through the door and into the vault. The portal slithered shut behind them at Sirius' gesture, leaving the goblins behind.

Kushina studied the interior of the Black family vault in surprise. Stacked on the floor in the center of the room was a small mound of gold coins. "Seriously?" Kushina muttered. "That's how you store your money?"

"Only the really wealthy families," Sirius replied with a shrug, already perusing a shelf of books bound in black leather. "Most wizards and witches just open an account to manage their money. The vaults are… more of an old-school indulgence for the well-heeled." Sirius plucked a tome off of the shelf and opened it to examine the contents. "Here it is," he exclaimed. "Soul prisons, spells to wound souls, using souls of the dead to _enhance_ spells?" Sirius shuddered. "This is some dark stuff, but it's the one Remus wanted."

Kushina was still examining the room curiously. There were display cases full of knickknacks all over. Some things – like a large silver chalice with amazingly detailed engraving – were clearly valuable, while others, like mummified animal limbs and gobs of flesh in jars of preservative, were just gross. Kushina's eyes returned to the pile of gold in the center of the room, which made the mercenary instincts in her just _itch_. "Any particular reason we want your cousin to be able to access these funds?"

Sirius followed Kushina's gaze. "Not really; take some if you want, but gold's heavy and you're going to have to carry it out of here."

Kushina grinned in return. "Simple." Slipping a scroll out of the satchel she'd been carrying over her shoulder, Kushina unrolled it on the floor near the gold pile.

Sirius gave the detailed fuuinjutsu designs on the parchment a curious look. "What are those?"

"Storage seals," Kushina replied, pressing her fingers to one of the circles. It started glowing, and when she picked up a handful of gold and dropped it on the scroll, the coins vanished upon striking the seal.

Sirius blinked. "How much can that thing hold?"

"There are enough storage seals in this scroll to hold most of the pile," Kushina replied. "Give me a hand."

Grinning himself now, Sirius waved his wand, and gold coins started pouring into the seal on their own. Every so often the seal would flash red and Kushina would move the scroll, opening a new seal. The pile was mostly gone in minutes when Kushina held up a hand. "That's enough; only one more seal left. Let's get out of here."

"Wait," Sirius said, looking around the room. Spotting the engraved chalice on its shelf, he chuckled. "As long as we're robbing Bella we've got to take this. It was mother's pride and joy." He reached out, but when his fingers neared the narrow stem above the base, he snatched his hand back with an oath. "Damn, Bella cursed it. That would have been dangerous to touch."

Kushina's eyes narrowed. "Must be important, then," she murmured. Picking up the scroll, she activated the last seal and then carefully touched it to the chalice. It vanished, but when Kushina flipped the scroll over the seal had closed itself and turned black, ominous little wisps of darkness rising off of the seal. "Okay, yeah, not opening that without a lot of prep work," Kushina muttered. "Never seen a seal do that before."

"We should get out of here," Sirius said. Nodding in agreement, Kushina rolled up the scroll and slipped it into her satchel. Sirius opened the vault door with the key, strode outside – and then stopped so abruptly that Kushina almost ran into him. Skidding to the side, she saw what was waiting on the platform outside, and swore under her breath.

There was a second mine cart now, with another goblin guide escorting a slender woman with frizzy dark hair and a dress very similar to Sirius'.

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my vault?" the witch screeched. Her hat and veil fell off as she drew her wand, revealing a furious face that was a mirror to Sirius' own altered visage.

"This is most irregular," one of the goblin bankers was exclaiming with a frown. " _Two_ Bellatrix Lestranges?"

Bellatrix's expression turned murderous when she realized what was going on. "Imposter," she screeched, sending a hex winging at Sirius. He drew his own wand and batted it away, where it melted away a section of rock wall.

"No wands! No magic in the bank," one of the armored goblins exclaimed as both drew truncheons from their belts.

"Shut up you miserable midget," Bellatrix snarled. "You let this fake rob my vault!" In a single motion she hurled another jinx at Sirius, dodged the spell he'd cast at her at the same time, and then cast again, striking one of the goblins and sending him tumbling.

The attack on the guard seemed to activate the golden suits of armor. Two of them went for Bella, while the other two closed in on Sirius and Kushina. "Stand down, stand down," they intoned mechanically.

"Oh hell, this isn't good," Kushina muttered. "Don't suppose we can apparate out of here?"

"Not a chance," Sirius replied over the sounds of the spells flying back and forth at the Black cousins tried their best to murder each other.

"Great," Kushina sighed. Taking a step forward, she punched the first animated armor, sending it flying ten meters over the lip of the platform and down into the abyss below. The second one swung a sword at her that she parried with a kunai dropped into her hand from her sleeve. She launched a side kick at the construct, knocking it back into the wall beside the vault door with enough force that it collapsed into its component pieces.

"Sirius," Bellatrix screeched once she recognized his dueling style. "You _dare_ to rob me?"

"Didn't think you'd miss it, luv," he replied cheekily, eliciting a scream of absolute fury from her. Bellatrix ducked under the arms of one of the armor suits attempting to restrain her and cast a hex at it that made it start to melt. With a flick of her wand she sent the other flying toward Sirius, who had to roll out of the way.

For a moment the platform was occupied only by humans and cringing goblins, but Kushina caught a flicker of motion from above and swore as a dozen more suits of armor dropped down from the ceiling above, landing with deafening clangs and splitting up to confront Bellatrix, Sirius and Kushina. "Stand down, stand down, stand down," all of them bellowed at once.

Bellatrix and Sirius were abruptly too busy defending themselves to continue their duel. Both retreated towards their edges of the platform, weaving spells rapidly to drive off their armored attackers. Kushina disappeared in a blur of motion, throwing golden figures off of the platform or shattering them to pieces in her wake. Unfortunately their numbers seemed endless; no sooner had she cleared the area around her than _two_ dozen dropped in from above to replace them.

Seeing that the fight was rapidly becoming unwinnable, Kushina bowled over half a dozen armor suits with a blast of wind and then leapt to Sirius' side. "We need to get out of here!"

"Sounds good," Sirius replied, hurling spells out rapid-fire at any armor that got close. "Got any ideas?"

"Same as the night we met," Kushina replied. "Hold on!" She wrapped an arm around Sirius' waist, he got his around her neck, and then Kushina _jumped_. Fifteen meters up she met the curving cavern wall, sticking to it with her feet and free hand.

Below, Bellatrix was cornered on the edge of the platform, but Kushina's maneuver hadn't escaped her notice; nor had the book Sirius clutched tightly through the entire encounter. She took time to hurl a hex at them, but Kushina evaded it as she climbed higher, away from the fray. A snarl crossed Bellatrix's lips, and she tried a different tack. "Accio Black Grimoire," she shrieked. Sirius held on for a moment, but then the book broke free from his hand and flew into hers.

"Bloody hell, she got the book!" Sirius swore. Kushina paused, watching as Bella whirled in place and transformed into an inky cloud of writhing magical energy that took flight and fled along one of the railway tracks. "Let go, I can follow her!" Sirius called out.

"But I can't follow you," Kushina replied, maintaining her grip on Sirius and shaking her head.

"Harry needs that book!" Sirius protested.

"I know, but he needs you, too," Kushina countered. "It's too dangerous to go after her alone with the whole bank on alert; we'll find another way to help Harry." With that said she started climbing again, working her way around a curve in the cavern wall to break line of sight with the goblins.

"Damnation," Sirius muttered as Bella's dark cloud disappeared from his sight.

Gringott's vaults were deep underground, and Kushina was getting tired by the time she reached the top of the cavern. Fortune favored the pair soon after, though; Sirius spotted light, and after a short crawl across the roof they found a narrow crevice that led up to the surface. Kushina and Sirius emerged from the ground at the bottom of a twisting ravine well outside of London.

Grimacing, Kushina rubbed and stretched sore muscles. "That could have gone better," she admitted. "What are the odds she would show up right then?"

"Astronomical," Sirius replied. "Just our bad luck. Still, it's odd that Bella would go to Gringott's at all, given that every auror in London knows her face and has instructions to kill on sight. We only risked it because we needed that book; I can't imagine Bella risked Diagon Alley just to get money."

"Does it matter why she was there?" Kushina sighed.

"Not really," Sirius said, shaking his head. "Still, there's one bright spot," he added.

"Oh?"

"We've still got Bella's fortune and mother's gaudy chalice. Assuming she cares about either, she'll come for them and we'll have another chance at the book."

"True," Kushina admitted. "Well, I'm anxious to get back to Harry. Can you apparate from here?"

"Easily," Sirius assured her. "I'm anxious to be rid of this horrid transformation." He took Kushina's hand, raised his wand, and they vanished with a 'crack' of displaced air.


	13. Second Interlude: Dark Conclave

Second Interlude: Dark Conclave

* * *

"W-where is H-helga H-hufflepuff's Chalice, Bellatrix?"

"Well it's not in my vault anymore, Quirrell, and it's not here, so by process of elimination my cousin Sirius and that freakish gorilla bitch have it."

"U-unacceptable!"

"S-s-shut up, Quirrell. If there was a leak it didn't come from me. Besides, they didn't break into my vault for the cup. They were after this, and I made sure they didn't get it."

"T-the Black Grimoire? T-that's even w-worse! If the m-master were h-here h-he would h-have your h-head!"

"The master isn't here you stuttering fool, and the master is never going to be here if we do not pave the way for his return! Whispers in our dreams are not enough to rally the full might of the Death Eaters. As long as the dark marks remain dormant Malfoy and the others who escaped the Ministry's purges won't lift a finger to help."

"If you'd retrieved the chalice, w-we'd be one s-step closer..."

"That gaudy cup was not our only option, just the simplest. Besides, I know my cousin; if he wants this book badly enough to break into Gringott's disguised as _me_ , he wants it badly enough to expose himself again. When he slips up we'll be ready, and then we'll have him, his pet she-ape, the cup and the brat, won't we?"

"W-what makes you think you'll be m-more successful n-next time?"

"I won't be surprised; I also won't be alone."

"T-there's s-still the m-matter of the w-woman. W-we know t-too little about h-her."

"She's fast, she's strong, and regardless of what the Ministry thinks she's not a witch. But she's not untouchable either. Snivelling Severus made her bleed, and if he wasn't such a coward he could have finished her. No, the next time I face Sirius and his pet, they won't get away."

"Do as you w-wish. Call t-the others t-to support you if n-needed. I w-will move on to the n-next plan, But it w-will be m-much s-slower. T-the m-master w-will n-not be pleased."

"One way or another, the master will be restored, and he'll bring Britain to heel with us at his right hand. You fight your way, Quirrell, and I'll fight mine."

"Agreed."


	14. Trial and Error

Chapter Twelve: Trial and Error

* * *

"Mother, are you certain you wish to attempt this again?" Haku asked seriously with concern clear in his dark eyes.

Smiling fondly at her eldest, Lily nodded. She still wasn't sure how polite formality had been ground so deeply into Haku's bones at such a young age, but she'd given up some time ago trying to get him to just call her 'mom'. "I need to, Haku," she replied softly, reaching out to ruffle his long, dark hair which was immaculate, as always.

Haku ducked his head to avoid further mussing, but she caught the smile that flashed across his lips for a moment. "I am only concerned, mother; you are still healing from the last test of this… device."

"I know," Lily sighed. The burns on her left wrist and forearm were mostly healed, but the memory of the pain was still fresh. "I know what went wrong with the last halo, though," she continued, "and I fixed it."

"All right, mother," Haku murmured. "Well, Naruto will be at the Academy until this afternoon and Kakashi is away all week, so now is as good a time as any to try again. I do hope this one doesn't catch fire, though; manufacturing a second kitchen accident would almost certainly raise suspicions."

Nodding, Lily carefully picked up the thin bracelet of worked silver and placed it on her wrist, willing her fingers to stop twitching. Lying down on her bed, she studied Haku's serious face crowned by a Konoha hitai-ate as he knelt beside it. Now eleven, Haku had blown through the Academy in just two years and was already a successful genin on track to be promoted to chuunin when the next exams were held. It was still jarring to Lily sometimes how fast shinobi had to grow up, but Haku handled it well, and despite his age she'd come to rely on him as an adult.

Haku was the only person in Konoha that Lily had confided her secrets to. He had seen her work magic on the night they met, had seen her kill a kage with it – an act whose political ripples were still being felt across the Elemental Nations three years later. He'd listened to her story of meeting Naruto's mother beyond the grave and crossing over to his world with calm acceptance.

"Are you ready mother?" Haku asked politely. Lily nodded, tapping her wand on the bracelet and activating the runes engraved on its outer surface. "Then I will begin." Pressing two fingers to each side of the bracelet, Haku slowly began pouring his chakra into the metal, activating the tiny fuuinjutsu seals etched on the inner band.

Kakashi moving in had slowed the pace of Lily's research and experimentation into methods of contacting Kushina, but once Naruto started attending the Academy during the day, the Hokage had re-tasked the Copy Ninja, who was one of his best ANBU. Kakashi still lived with them, but he wasn't a constant presence anymore, which allowed Lily to get back to work.

After years of study, she'd concluded that magic alone was never going to allow her to gulf the unfathomable distance between Earth and the Elemental Nations. Kushina's memories had given her a different idea, however. She couldn't help but notice the similarities between the functionality of the magical runes she'd studied at Hogwarts, and the fuuinjutsu that Kushina had mastered in her first lifetime. Both were systems of shaping power to do a wide variety of things, limited mostly by the patience and knowledge of their practitioner.

Lily had combined the two disciplines in a series of careful experiments assisted by Haku, as Lily had no chakra of her own to manipulate fuuinjutsu seals. After numerous failures at enchanting a mirror to show her places on Earth, Lily had concluded that no material she could acquire was capable of containing the energy required. Even sturdy polished metal had melted and burned before giving her a glimpse of home.

Failure had given Lily pause, and she'd redefined the problem. She didn't really need to _see_ Earth; she just needed some way to connect with Kushina again, as they had on the road to the afterlife. That had inspired her second experiment. Since she had all of the memories of Kushina's first life, she'd conceived of a magical device that would use those memories as a key, linking her to the only other person in any existence who also possessed them; Kushina herself.

That had led her to build the first halo. The one she now wore was the fourth iteration. The first simply hadn't worked. The second had broken into pieces, leaving Lily with vicious migraines that took weeks to fade. The third had caught fire last week as soon as Haku used his chakra to activate it, and the burns, while bad, would have been _much_ worse if her adopted son hadn't frozen the molten silver before it could cut down to the bone.

Closing her eyes, Lily could feel the halo coming to life. _Come on, Kushina… I know you're out there._ The halo started humming. Lily felt a sudden and shocking chill spread from her wrist into her whole body, sinking into her bones. _Something's wrong,_ she realized immediately. She tried to slip the halo off of her wrist, but her muscles were cold and numb, refusing to obey her. Lily experienced a sensation as though she were falling before everything went dark.

* * *

"God, we haven't spoken in a long time. Not since papa beat mama to death with his hoe and turned it on me, just for the 'sin' in our blood."

 _What?_ Lily felt sluggish, her body heavy and numb. She couldn't move, and she was so _cold_.

"I didn't ask you for mercy, then. It was my mistake, letting papa see what I could do. I suppose I deserved what came after. Mama didn't, but that's between you and her now."

 _Haku?_ Lily could hear her adopted son's voice. He was speaking quietly, fervently. He was _praying_ , she realized in shock. He'd never displayed any religious inclinations before.

"God, please don't take mother. Not for this; not for wanting to make sure our brother in the other world is all right. Naruto needs her." Lily felt faint warmth, the heat of Haku's fingers wrapped around hers. A droplet of moisture fell on the back of her hand, and then another. "I need her," he choked out.

The warmth of Haku's touch spread ever so slowly through Lily's body, and she was able to move. Her fingers curled around Haku's. Her eyelids opened, gummy and crusty. The light was dim, but it still hurt her eyes. "Haku…" Lily mumbled.

"Mother?" Haku's face popped into sight, eyes damp but suddenly smiling. "Mother, you're awake!"

"What… what happened?" Lily croaked in a hoarse whisper. She still felt so weak, like all of her body's energy had been drained away.

"You've been unconscious for two days, mother," Haku told her seriously. "You fell into a deep sleep as soon as the halo was activated. I removed it when your skin started getting colder, but I couldn't wake you." Haku shivered. "I told Naruto and Aunt Mebuki that you had the flu, but… I was going to take you to the hospital if you didn't wake up tonight."

Lily winced; that would have been bad. It would have raised a lot of questions she wasn't prepared to answer.

"Are you all right mother? How do you feel?" Haku asked anxiously.

"Weak," Lily murmured, "and cold." Haku vanished for a moment, and upon returning added another blanket to the ones already wrapped around her. He helped Lily sit up and drink a cup of hot tea. It felt wonderful, warming her from the inside.

"Naruto…?" Lily managed to ask.

"He's worried about you. I convinced him that he didn't want to catch whatever you'd come down with."

Lily sighed, feeling a worm of guilt in her gut. She could see the lines of stress on Haku's young face. "I'm so sorry, Haku," she whispered.

Haku squeezed her hand gently. "I'm just glad you're back." He paused, looking at her seriously. "Are you going to try again?"

Lily closed her eyes for a moment. "As much as I'd like to make sure Harry and Kushina are doing well… I've been selfish, and unfair to you and Naruto." She glanced at the halo sitting on the side table. "I wish I knew what went wrong; it should have worked. But I've been pushing my luck. I could have died this time. I promise I won't try to use the halo again."

"Thank you, mother," Haku said, sounding relieved as he hugged her.


	15. Olive Branch

Chapter Thirteen: Olive Branch

* * *

"Thank you so much for agreeing to see me, Headmaster," Remus said politely as one of the Hogwarts house elves handed him a cup of tea.

Dumbledore was already stirring honey into his, a pleasant smile crossing his lips. "I always try to make time for my most promising students, Remus," he replied genially. "I must confess I was relieved to receive your owl. When you dropped out of sight a few years ago, I worried about you. Have you been well?"

"I am happier now than I have been in many years, Headmaster," Remus replied. "I've found work far more fulfilling than my last several jobs were."

Dumbledore appeared startled, but pleased. "I'm glad to hear it, Remus. You've found a more genial employer, I take it?"

Remus shook his head. "Not exactly… more like good friends with whom I share a common goal."

Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully. "Are we speaking of others suffering from your… condition?"

"No," Remus replied sadly. "I am, as far as I am aware, one of a very few afflicted with lycanthropy who choose to resist the curse. Certainly I know of no others who had refrained from savagery for as long as I have. But I did not come to speak of a tragic past. I actually wanted to talk to you about a more hopeful future."

"Always a more amenable topic of conversation," Dumbledore agreed. "How can I help you, Remus?"

"I've actually been working for the past several years to solve a magical puzzle, one that has defied my best attempts to understand and unlock it. My other avenues of research have come up empty, and I am in desperate need of your wisdom."

"Of course, Remus; tell me more."

"Headmaster, have you ever encountered or heard of a curse capable of placing a fragment of one person's soul within the body of another?"

Because he was watching for it, Remus saw the slightest flicker of recognition in Dumbledore's wise old eyes, masked almost instantly. "An interesting question," Dumbledore replied slowly. "Is this a hypothetical, or have you truly encountered such an unfortunate soul?"

"I speak of a concrete example; a child whose guardian came to me for assistance. To my shame, I have been able to offer little aid."

"That is unfortunate," Dumbledore agreed, stirring his tea with idle fingers. "I am surprised, however that they would not simply take the child to St. Mungo's, or the Department of Mysteries. Or that you would not make such a recommendation to said guardian."

 _Here we go,_ Remus thought. He'd known walking into the meeting that Dumbledore would probably figure out the game before he could get an answer. "The child's guardian is wary of the Ministry's attention," Remus said carefully, "else that would have indeed been her first resort."

Remus had been expecting to feel a slight tickle inside his skull, and blocked it politely, averting his eyes from Dumbledore's slightly. "Please don't do that, Headmaster," he murmured.

"Apologies Remus, but we are now discussing young Harry Potter and his abductor, are we not?"

Remus looked up with a frown, wary of another legilimency attempt, but none came. "We are speaking of Harry Potter, yes, as well as a brave, strong woman who has been carrying out the last wishes of Lily Potter for eight years, one who has bled and suffered in young Harry's defense."

Dumbledore studied Remus intently. "You have seen Harry then; is he well? Is he safe?"

"He is, Headmaster. Harry has had the kindest and most attentive mother any lad could wish for. I would like to think you know me well. Do you believe I would be comfortable allowing James' only child to remain in the hands of someone I did not trust?"

"I do trust that you believe that, Remus," Dumbledore replied, "but what you may not know is that young Harry's abductor placed him in far greater danger than he would have faced in his aunt and uncle's care. This 'K.U.' destroyed Harry's last gift from his mother, one that Lily died to bequeath upon him, so regardless of her motivations, her actions have been far from benign."

That statement rocked Remus back in his seat. "What do you mean, Headmaster?"

"Love is perhaps both the greatest and least understood of all magic, Remus," Dumbledore explained. "When Lily sold her life willingly in her son's defense she created a more powerful ward against dark magic for young Harry than any I could create. That ward was tied to her blood, and the blood of her last living relative: her sister, Petunia Dursley. Your friend destroyed that ward when she removed Harry from his aunt's care, leaving him far more vulnerable than he would have been. Darkness won a great victory that day without lifting a finger."

Remus sighed. "While that is troubling to hear, Headmaster, what's done is done." He paused, thinking hard. "Her name is Kushina, by the way."

"Hmm?"

"Harry's mother; her name is Kushina."

"Interesting; an odd name," Dumbledore noted.

"Well, she's a unique sort of person," Remus replied with a faint smile. "Headmaster, you must understand that from Kushina's perspective, you were the one who did Harry a disservice. I never met the Dursleys, but James did, and called them 'Muggles of the worst sort'. Hearing your explanation now I understand why you placed him with them instead of any of the dozens of magical families who would have cheerfully taken him in. But Kushina didn't have that knowledge, only her observation that the Dursleys were not the sort of people Lily would have wished to see raise her son."

"I would have shared this information with someone Lily had designated as the boy's guardian, had she asked instead of abducting him," Dumbledore said skeptically. "Additionally, I was present for the opening of the Potters' will, Remus. There was no mention of a legal guardian. How do you know that this Kushina woman has been truthful?"

Remus shrugged. "Sirius – who we both know is Harry's godfather – has been with her from the start, and he believes her. That's enough for me."

"Apologies, Remus, but that's not enough for me," Dumbledore stated firmly. "Two fugitive criminals caring for young Harry are hardly better than one."

Remus frowned. "I know you don't actually believe that Sirius committed the crimes he was accused of."

"Mr. Black's guilt or innocence in the matter of the murders eight years ago is hardly the point here. If he has aided Harry's abductor he is complicit in her crimes. As are you, Remus, unless you are forthcoming with their location. Harry must be returned to the custody of the proper authorities."

Remus' face closed down. He looked out the window for a moment before returning his gaze squarely to Dumbledore. "I had to work at them for years just to get to this point, you know," Remus said quietly at last. "Neither of them trusts you Headmaster, and I thought they were foolish for it. For Sirius it's an old feeling of betrayal, that you didn't show up to that show trial, or listen to him at all. For Kushina it's the contrast between what Lily believed you'd do for Harry and what you actually did. It took me a long time and a lot of talking just to convince them to let me extend this olive branch. I'd hate to think they were justified in their mistrust." Remus leaned forward. "Harry needs help, Headmaster, but he doesn't need aurors coming after his mother and godfather and taking him away by force."

Dumbledore sighed, shaking his head. "I wish with all my heart to see Harry Potter cured of whatever afflicts him, but I am reluctant to aid and abet his kidnapper. I can offer this, Remus: if young Harry is delivered to St. Mungo's for treatment, I will do what I can to convince the Ministry to drop all charges against your friends for their actions. It might even be possible to arrange a more reasoned re-trial for Sirius."

"But Harry would not be free to return to his mother?" Remus guessed.

Dumbledore shook his head. "Returning the boy to his kidnapper is out of the question. With the blood wards destroyed there is no reason to return him to the Dursleys; he would be fostered with an appropriate magical family until the date of his majority."

Remus looked disappointed, but he nodded. "I understand, Headmaster. We will find help for Harry on our own." He got up to go, wondering if Dumbledore would attempt to detain him.

Dumbledore only remained in his seat, looking disappointed as well. "You will be treated as an accomplice in the crimes of your companions if you are found with them, Remus," he warned. "Are you prepared for the consequences of your choices?"

"Absolutely," Remus replied immediately. "How could I look James and Lily in the eyes in the next life if I didn't do right by their son?" He paused in the doorway. "Headmaster, Lily wanted Harry to attend Hogwarts, as she did. Kushina would like to send him here. She will not do so, however, if he will not be allowed to return to her. We have time yet to resolve this situation, but if it is not Harry will be enrolled at another school of magic."

"Remus, wait," Dumbledore said before he could go. Remus turned to see the Headmaster rise from his seat and turn to peruse the large bookshelf behind his desk. "You truly will not be moved on this issue?"

"You know I won't," Remus said firmly.

"Then if you intend to become a fugitive like your friend Sirius, you should take some reading material with you at least," Dumbledore said mildly.

"Headmaster?" Remus blinked at the non sequitur, but Dumbledore only plucked a thin, leather-bound volume from a shelf, blowing a thin coat of dust off of it.

"You might find one of the journals of Clinton Malfoy to be interesting," Dumbledore said as he extended the book to Remus. Seeing the look of distaste on Remus' face, Dumbledore chuckled. "The Malfoys were not always as they are now. Clinton was a wizard of that line in the seventeenth century. He was an adventurer, and roamed the world. This is his account of his journey through Egypt."

Remus took the book in hand. "If you say I will find it interesting, Headmaster, I will take you at your word." _But I will check it for enchantments and tracing spells before I return to Sirius and Kushina._

"Be well, Remus."

"Thank you for your time, Headmaster."


	16. Sundered

Chapter Fourteen: Sundered

* * *

"Mum, how much further?" Harry Potter asked plaintively, his legs churning as he ran barefoot along the beach with the rising sun staining the Saturday morning sky pink and purple.

Kushina glanced over her shoulder and slowed down to a jog. "It's only been a few kilometers, sweetie," she reminded Harry as he caught up with her.

"But I'm tired," Harry panted.

"That's how you know you're getting stronger, Harry; when you reach your limit and push past it," Kushina told him. "A month ago you were tired before we passed Wilke's Bar. Now look back; can you even see it?"

Harry turned around to look for the sand bar where the gulls and pipers liked to nest. It was just barely visible on the horizon, mostly hidden by the curve of the beach. "Wow," he commented.

Kushina smiled at her ten year-old son. He was getting taller now, but remained stubbornly skinny no matter how well she fed him. He wore only shorts and a t-shirt, and she could see the lean muscle on his arms and legs, proof of their morning work-outs. Sirius and Remus didn't know quite what to make of her insistence that Harry would not be as sedentary as the average wizard. Neither man was fat or lazy, but they – like most magic users on Earth – relied on their naturally speedy metabolism to keep the pounds off, and regarded the idea of regular exercise with something akin to bemused horror.

After another kilometer Kushina could tell Harry really was tiring, so she called a halt. She didn't even need to tell him to stretch and keep limber as he caught his breath. Once he wasn't panting anymore she took a few steps back and beckoned to her son. "Now hit me, sweetie."

Harry groaned. "Mum c'mon, I don't want to. I'm exhausted. Can't we just go home?"

"Sure we can," Kushina told Harry pleasantly, taking a few steps to stand between him and the way home, "just as soon as you hit me. Life is full of people who aren't going to wait for you to be well-rested and prepared before they try to hurt you. Now c'mon, stand the way I showed you, and _hit me_."

Harry sighed mournfully, but turned his body slightly to the side, spread his feet out a bit, and got his arms up, closing his hands into fists. Kushina mirrored the posture and waited. Harry closed in, feinted with a punch, and then launched a quick kick at her ankle. "Good job, sweetie," Kushina congratulated him as she stepped over his strike. "You didn't look down." Harry's emerald eyes narrowed as he moved forward to strike again. Turning around his next kick she tapped his planted ankle with her toe, just enough unbalance him. He hit the sand, but quickly rolled away as she'd taught him, establishing distance and getting to his feet.

Kushina felt a measure of pride at her son's progress. She'd only started teaching him taijutsu recently, but she could already see in Harry the phenomenal reflexes that Sirius had attributed to his father. She was confident that he would excel in unarmed combat, a skill that would certainly surprise opponents he might face in the wizarding world. Teaching Harry was thus satisfying but also a bit melancholy, because she knew that his strongest weapon would always be the magic in his blood, and that was a power she had no aptitude for. Sirius and Remus would be teaching him the basics of that art before he began his formal education. Most of her knowledge about the arts of combat related to chakra use, and was thus useless for passing on in a world where she was the sole chakra user.

Kushina's musings were interrupted when Harry launched a furious series of quick punches, following up with another high kick. She ducked under it, intending to capture his foot and punish another over-extended strike with his feet, but mid-maneuver his hand opened, sending a first-full of sand toward her face that he'd scooped up while he was on the ground.

Kushina actually had to move a bit faster than she usually did when teaching Harry in order to turn her head to the side, catching the sand on her hair. She tripped him again, and took a step back. "That was a bit underhanded," she observed neutrally as Harry clambered to his feet, eyeing her warily.

"Didn't you tell me to use the environment to my advantage?" Harry panted.

Kushina grinned. "I did, sweetie. Well done! That counts as a hit; there aren't many people fast enough to avoid what you just did, and a blind opponent is already halfway to losing. Just don't make the mistake of thinking they're beaten until they're out cold or dead."

"Yes mum," Harry murmured.

"Let's head home and have a nice big breakfast, okay?"

"Yes mum!" Harry replied with a great deal more enthusiasm. Kushina let Harry set the pace on the jog back home. Eventually they got back to the private boardwalk that bridged the wild grasses above the beach and went all the way up to the back door of their house. It was an odd structure, two stories tall like a normal house but resting on stilts that raised it another story above the foundation, with only bare concrete for parking cars and a utility room actually resting on the ground. Almost all the homes in the area were built the same way as a precaution against storm swells from hurricanes that could sweep across the entire island.

In the interest of getting farther away from Britain and its collection of Death Eaters, Kushina, Sirius and Remus had temporarily relocated across the Atlantic. The house they lived in was located in a small town called Corolla in the Outer Banks of North Carolina that had few permanent residents but attracted tens of thousands of tourists every year in the warm months. It was just the right combination of remoteness and a large transient population to get lost in. To the tourists they were just more faces, and to the locals they were odd for their accents perhaps, but still welcome.

Harry and Kushina hosed off their sweaty, sandy feet outside the house and then headed to their separate bathrooms for showers. Afterward Kushina headed into the kitchen, where Harry was helpfully getting things out of the fridge for breakfast. Of course, being a clever boy he was getting out the ingredients to make _his_ favorite breakfast foods, but Kushina allowed it, heaping waffles and eggs and sausage on his plate. Watching Harry make the food disappear, Kushina really didn't know where he put it all; the old theory of a hollow leg came to mind. Neither Remus nor Sirius joined them for breakfast, though she'd heard them moving around down the hall.

After breakfast Kushina pointed silently at the table in the living room strewn with books and notes. Harry went over to start on his homework with good grace. Like most wizarding children brought up in the Muggle world he'd been enrolled in one of their schools, although he would be switching to a new one in a few years. Exactly which school of wizardry Harry would be attending was still up in the air. Kushina wanted to send Harry to Hogwarts as Lily had wished, but she would not do so without assurances from Dumbledore that he would be returning to her at the end of the year.

Throwing some buttered toast and tea on a tray, Kushina made her way into the side of the house where Remus had his study. Walking down the hall, Kushina heard voices behind the door. When she knocked, Sirius opened it. She could tell at a glance both wizards looked fatigued. "Tell me you two weren't up all night?" Kushina asked as the found an empty spot on the desk for their breakfast.

"Most of it," Remus admitted, pouring himself some tea, "and thank you."

Sirius grabbed some toast and grinned once he was done chewing. "It was for a good cause, though. Remus is done translating and preparing for the ritual; it's ready."

Kushina blinked. "Really?" She only understood what was in the book Dumbledore had gifted to Remus in the broadest sense, but he'd come back from his trip to Hogwarts excited about the observations of one Clinton Malfoy in Egypt.

Remus nodded. "As I told you, the journal's author spent several years in Egypt, and made friends with an elderly vizier there, one of their magical elite. When the old vizier reached the end of his life, he invited Malfoy to witness the ritual by which many magical folk in that nation who hew to the old ways choose to end their lives. The power of a dying witch or wizard's soul is extracted and carefully stored in a prepared vessel as they pass on, leaving that power behind for their descendants to call on in times of great need. They're treasured heirlooms, the most important things many of their Pureblood families own. Malfoy recorded a great many details about the ritual he witnessed. It's taken me so long to figure out how it worked, because I had to learn a nearly dead language in order to translate the writings that Malfoy recorded as illustrations. But at this point, I'm confident that I can modify and replicate it to suit our needs."

Sirius nodded eagerly. "So since we've looked for five years and found no way to destroy the construct hiding in Harry's scar…"

"… we can at least transplant it outside of him," Remus finished, "more specifically, into this." He picked up a fairly large diamond, one that had set them back a pretty penny even with Bellatrix's stolen fortune to fall back on. It was oval cut, and the facets around its round edge were carved with symbols akin to the ones on the yellowed pages of the journal.

"You're certain this is going to remove only the dark magic in Harry's scar," Kushina asked warily, "and not _his_ soul. You understand I'm still a bit dubious about subjecting him to a lethal ritual designed to drain the vital essence of someone about to die anyways."

"That's why I've taken so long with this and been as careful as I can," Remus assured her. "I'm not blindly copying what was in Malfoy's journal. This gem is not large enough and the enchantments on it are not sufficiently potent to contain an entire soul's magic. It's only got enough space for that piece of a soul in the scar. I promise my aim will be most precise, and even if it went wrong, we'd lose the gem at worst; not Harry."

"I share your concerns Kushina, but this does need to be done. You can't keep lurking around Harry's school every day he's there, and even then the Death Eaters could cause a lot of collateral damage if they follow us here."

"I know," Kushina sighed. She'd gotten to know Harry's little American school friends and some of their parents, and those kids winding up in the middle of another stupid, pointless fight with a band of stupid, evil wizards made her sick to think about. "All right; let's do it."

* * *

Albus Dumbledore didn't much care for making trips to the Ministry of Magic. He always got bogged down in conversations he didn't want to have, the occasional fawning was not nearly as flattering as some people thought, and he did everything he could to avoid Cornelius Fudge. Nonetheless, when he received an owl from the Department of Mysteries concerning a package that had arrived for him from overseas and been flagged at the Ministry's Customs Office, he made time in his schedule and took the Floo Network to the Ministry.

When Dumbledore entered the Department of Mysteries after more than a few delays, a familiar face was waiting for him. "Ah, Saul," Dumbledore greeted Professor Saul Croaker warmly. "Good to see you."

"And you, Albus," Saul replied. "I wasn't sure you'd arrive today, but I'm glad you did. Someone sent quite the interesting package with your name on it; this way." Saul took off at a rapid clip, though Dumbledore's long legs let him keep up easily.

"I assume the object is malign in nature if it wound up in your keeping, Saul," Dumbledore guessed.

"It's a nasty bit of dark magic, yes," Saul agreed, showing Dumbledore into a small lab with a locked door that he had to open with a spelled key on his belt. "But the packaging is almost more interesting that what it holds."

On an empty table in the center of the room, a cut diamond rested on a wire stand. Next to it was a piece of parchment and an open box. "We opened your package once the scanning spells started going berserk," Saul apologized.

"Quite all right, my friend." Moving closer to the gem, Dumbledore's eyebrows rose in surprise. Diamonds were normally clear, or tinted with the same color throughout. This one was neither. It was still clear around the edges, but in the heart of the gem something black and cloudy was _moving_ , twisting restlessly. Occasionally a dark tendril would move close to the edge of the oval-cut diamond, and one of the symbols carved around the edge would flash purple, making it recoil.

"As nearly as we've been able to tell in our brief study before your arrival, what's inside is a piece of a soul trapped in a dark spell like nothing any of us have seen before. That in turn is bound up in the diamond, which is actually a very obscure piece of _Egyptian_ magic, if you can believe that."

Nodding absently, Dumbledore picked up the parchment resting on the table. There was a short message scrawled on it in an elegant hand. 'The library book you recommended was indeed an interesting read, thank you. Be careful with this; unsavory folks may come looking for it. The other package you were interested in can be delivered on time as long as assurances of its return can be made. Otherwise – with regret – it will be staying on this side of the pond. –R.L.'

"Very interesting," Dumbledore murmured, stroking his long beard thoughtfully. "Where did the package originate?"

"According to the bill of posting its delivery fee was paid in Elmwood, a small magical community in Raleigh, North Carolina, across the pond in the United States." Saul paused. "The sender seems to know you, Albus. Do you know what this bloody thing is?"

Albus shook his head slowly. "I have suspicions as to this object's nature, Saul, but none with enough proof that I'd care to voice them. As to its sender… it is no one you need concern yourself with."

"Will you be taking the gem, then?" Saul asked.

Dumbledore considered that, but shook his head. "No, I think not. Hogwarts is no place for magic like this. Keep it and study it, if you wish." He saw the eager light in Saul's eyes, and hid a smile. Few things excited an Unspeakable more than an unknown bit of magic to examine. "Heed the warning of its sender, however," Dumbledore warned. "'Unsavory' individuals may indeed attempt to take it from you."

Saul's smile was cold, transforming his academic's face into something more sinister. "Oh, I'd dearly like to see someone try," he murmured. "We haven't had a good break-in in ages. Anything else I can do for you, Albus?"

"No, but I appreciate your help, old friend. Good day."

"Good day to you as well."

Dumbledore left Saul practically salivating over the gem and its mysteries. _Let's see how well you did your work, Tom, and if others can unravel it._ Dumbledore reflected calmly. Upon returning to the main level of the Ministry he looked longingly at the Floo network fireplaces, but shook his head in resignation.

The second half of Remus' message had been all too clear, and it alarmed Dumbledore. It was imperative that Harry Potter undertake his education at Hogwarts, and not some magical academy in the United States. He had laid down an ultimatum and held out hope that Remus would see reason and delivery Harry to safer hands one way or another. That seemed unlikely now and time was running out as the date of Harry's twelfth birthday approached. As much as it galled Dumbledore to give in to Kushina's blackmail it appeared he would have to be the one to blink first.

Arranging for Harry Potter to openly enter magical Britain and board the Hogwarts Express without being seized by aurors was going to require moving a bureaucratic mountain. That meant he was going to have to talk to Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, after all. Resigned to his fate, Dumbledore stepped into an elevator and pushed the button for the top floor.


	17. Black Cloaks, Red Clouds, Pink Witch

Chapter Fifteen: Black Cloaks, Red Clouds, Pink Witch

* * *

"Mom, I did it, I did it! I'm finally, really a ninja!" Naruto Uzumaki rushed into the house he'd grown up in with his mother Lily and his brother Haku, bursting with pride.

Lily was in the kitchen, her long pink hair tied back in a functional ponytail and an apron wrapped around her as she made dinner. She finished putting a roast in the stove and tugged off her oven mitts. Her gaze instantly took in the brand new hitai-ate proudly perched on Naruto's brow and a wide smile split her face. "Congratulations, Naruto! That's great! I knew you could do it," she said as she leaned down to hug him.

"I was so worried about passing all of the tests, especially the bunshin, but Haku was right, it was so easy!"

Lily ruffled his spiky blond hair. "See? And you couldn't sleep last night because you were nervous."

Naruto scratched his cheek, laughing a bit guiltily. "Well… Sakura and Kiba both called me a 'show-off'." Naruto made a face. "I wasn't trying to make anyone look bad, but they thought I was."

"Why did they say that, honey?" Lily asked.

"Well… Haku said that since I have trouble making two bunshin like the test says, I should just focus on molding my chakra the right way and not worry about trying to limit my output. I think there were about fifty bunshin; I didn't have time to count before Mizuki said to get rid of them. He thought I was showing off, too. Iruka said I did a good job, though!"

"If you weren't showing off, then what anyone else says doesn't matter. I'm proud of you," Lily said firmly, and Naruto beamed. As long as mom and Haku were proud of him, everyone else in Konoha who gave him dirty looks or refused to acknowledge him could go to hell, for all Naruto cared. He had what he needed. "So what was your final standing?"

"Oh! That's the best part!" Naruto exclaimed. "You're looking at this year's top student!"

"Really? That's wonderful, Naruto!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Well, one of the three anyways," he explained sheepishly. "Turns out I tied with Sasuke and Sakura for top combined marks. Sakura's grades in bookwork are the highest, Sasuke blew everyone else away on ninjutsu even _with_ Haku tutoring me, and I won the final taijutsu tournament." Naruto paused. "We get to find out tomorrow who's on each team." He shrugged. "I was hoping I'd get the top spot so I can be on a team with Sakura, but she's probably hoping that she gets on Sasuke's team."

"Probably," Lily agreed.

"Hey squirt," Haku said as he emerged from the hallway dressed in a chuunin's uniform and flak jacket with a travel pack slung over his shoulder. "I hear someone's a brand new genin." Now fifteen, Haku dropped his pack by the door and turned to playfully catch his little brother in a headlock and grind his knuckles into Naruto's scalp. "I knew you could do it."

"Thanks to everything you taught me," Naruto replied, laughing as he fought free of Haku's grip. His big brother was everything Naruto aspired to be: a strong, fearless shinobi who was respected by everyone around him. No one ever had anything bad to say about Haku, and he got nothing but admiring glances from his fellow shinobi and even random civilians on the streets.

"Don't sell yourself short, little brother," Haku told Naruto. "This," he tapped on the metal plate with Konoha's symbol, "is your hard work paying off, no one else's."

Lily studied Haku, glancing at the travel pack. "Off to work again, I take it?" Following her gaze Naruto could see a corner of smooth blue silk sticking out under one of the leather straps that didn't look like part of any kind of man's clothing he was aware of.

Haku nodded easily. "It's a short run, just to the next town. I should be back sometime tomorrow morning."

"Naruto, say goodbye to your brother, and then why don't you go slice some apples? I'll make a pie to celebrate."

Naruto nodded eagerly. "Bye, Haku," he said, giving his big brother a hug before racing into the kitchen. He got the apples out, listening closely. Mom and Haku were on the other side of the house, but they forgot sometimes how keen his hearing was.

"Haku," Lily asked quietly, "are they making you do _that_ again?"

"You don't miss anything, mother."

"It's not right that your team keeps putting you in these situations," Lily said with frustration.

"There's no one else who can do it, mother. You know my team didn't get a kunoichi; not enough girls graduated that year. You've met Ibeki, Runi and our sensei Motoba. None of them is ever going to be able to do what I can."

Lily snorted in amusement. "Well, that's the truth. Their muscles have muscles." She paused. "Still, you're only fifteen, Haku. You're too young to-"

"Mother, by the time Kakashi was fifteen he had a three-figure kill count, an eight-figure bounty on his head and he'd toppled a government."

"As far as I can tell, Kakashi's also never had a _life_ ," Lily replied tartly. "I want better than that for my sons, even if both of you were destined to be shinobi."

Naruto heard Haku pick up his pack. "I understand, mother. But truly, I don't mind putting on some makeup and getting dressed up. It's actually kind of fun most of the time."

"And the other times?" Lily asked softly, still sounding concerned.

"It's a job that needs doing," Haku replied neutrally. "Don't worry about me mother; I'll be fine."

"I know," Lily murmured in resignation. "You're always so strong. Be well, Haku."

Naruto heard the door open and shut. He looked up when his mother entered the kitchen, saw her banish the worry lines around her eyes and smile for him. "Already done with the apples, honey? Good! Why don't you sift the flour and we'll get the crust started?"

"Yes, mom," Naruto replied with a smile.

* * *

It was the dead of night when Naruto's eyes snapped open. He paused his breathing for a moment, trying to identify what had woken him from a sound sleep. He didn't hear anything unusual, and a quick glance around his dark bedroom revealed nothing out of place. Still, something indefinable inside of him was telling him that all was not right, and Haku had told him to never ignore his instincts.

Slipping out of bed in his boxers, Naruto crossed the wooden floor on silent feet, reaching into his weapons pouch slung over the back of his desk chair and removing a kunai. Gripping it tightly, he opened his bedroom door slowly, cautiously peering around the edge. He saw nothing out of the ordinary in the hall, except… mother's door was open. Walking slowly and avoiding the creaky floor boards, Naruto moved down to his mother's door and peered inside. Her bed was disturbed, but she wasn't in it.

The house was mostly silent, and the only noises Naruto could hear at first were frogs and crickets outside, but after listening for a moment he heard the faintest whisper of cloth on wood coming from the living room. Then he heard quiet voices. Moving noiselessly to the end of the hall, Naruto crouched down and peered around the corner. What he saw made his blue eyes go wide.

Lily stood in the living room with her back to him, facing two strange men. One was younger than her, with raven hair, dark eyes and a gaunt face with too many lines for his youth. The other was a towering giant of a man whose age Naruto couldn't place. His skin and hair were blue, and there was a massive sword wrapped in cloth across his back.

Lily was dressed for travel, and a leather satchel was slung over her shoulder. Her body language was dejected, and her shoulders drooped further as the dark-haired man moved around her. He slipped a dark, hooded cloak over her shoulders, and Naruto could faintly see a repeating motif of red clouds with white borders across its surface. Both men were wearing similar cloaks.

Naruto's instincts were screaming at him on a very primal level, telling him to remain hidden. He felt for a moment like a rabbit in the presence of wolves, and his hands started shaking without his permission.

The blue man's hand engulfed Lily's narrow shoulder and he prodded her towards the door, with the dark-haired man flanking her on the other side. Naruto stared in disbelief. Was she _leaving_?

"Mom!" Naruto called out, emerging from his hiding place with his instincts fighting him every step of the way.

Lily whirled in shock, fear plain in her green eyes. "Naruto?" she choked out. "Go back to bed sweetie," she said, almost pleading.

"No, mom," Naruto protested, raising his kunai and willing his hands to stop shaking. "Who are these guys? Where are they taking you?"

"It's going to be okay honey, just go back to your room, please," Lily's voice was shaking. Naruto took a step forward instead.

"Looks like the fox kit wants to play," the huge blue man rumbled in a deep voice. He smiled, revealing teeth pointed and serrated like a shark's. He took a step toward Naruto.

Lily took a step back from both men, and the stick she hid in her sleeve – the stick she'd killed the Raikage with and that Naruto was forbidden to tell anyone about – appeared in her hand. "Touch him and you'll get nothing from me," she said warningly, anger joining the fear in her eyes.

"Enough, partner," the dark-haired man said quietly. He flickered, vanishing from where he stood and appearing next to Lily, her stick in his hand. She gasped and rubbed her wrist with a pained look. "Leave the boy alone."

"Feh, fine," the blue man grunted.

"Let my mom go," Naruto yelled, charging the two intruders.

"Naruto, no!" Lily cried out.

The dark-haired man vanished again, appearing in a crouch right in front of Naruto. His dark eyes turned red, spinning dots appearing on their surface. "It is not yet your time to face us," he explained gravely.

"…" Naruto skidded to a halt. He couldn't move, couldn't speak. All he could do was stare helplessly at the dark-haired man's spinning eyes.

"If you wish to ever see your mother again in this life, rage at your own powerlessness," he informed Naruto. "Despise your weakness, and purge each fiber of it from your being. Hate is a potent tool; use it and grow strong. Become powerful enough to take your mother back, or remain forever bereft of her warmth and love."

Lily tried to rush to Naruto, but the blue man grasped her arm and held her still. "Stop it! Leave him alone you bastard," Lily cried, "that was the deal!"

The spinning red eyes grew until they were all Naruto could see. Faintly, on the edge of consciousness, he could hear the dark-haired man speak. "He is unharmed, woman. I have only entranced him while we make our departure. Now come."

Naruto stood still, staring into space. His bare feet ached from standing and his skin became chilled, but he didn't move. The light of the rising sun appeared through the windows, hurting his eyes at first. He blinked rapidly as they teared up, but couldn't close them. He heard the front door open, and footsteps. "Naruto, what are you doing? You should be dressed and at the Academy for team selection."

The unchanging section of the living room Naruto had been staring at for hours was replaced by Haku's concerned face. "Naruto?" Haku's hands grasped Naruto's shoulders and he was shaken to no effect. Then Haku's eyes narrowed and Naruto felt icy chakra knife through him "Kai," Haku snapped, and Naruto shuddered, gasping for air like a drowning man.

Tears immediately welled up in Naruto's eyes, and he wrapped his arms around Haku's neck, clinging desperately as sobs shook his body. "What happened here, Naruto?" Haku demanded. "Who did this to you?"

"The man with the red eyes," Naruto choked out. "He took mom away!"

Haku whistled through his teeth loudly, and a moment later his teammates and jounin sensei barreled through the door. "What's up?" Motoba growled.

"Someone put a powerful genjutsu on my brother. He says our mother was taken. Ibeki?"

Ibeki Inuzuka snapped his fingers and the massive, shaggy hound at his heels sniffed around before barking several times. "Fading scents of Lily, someone who smells like a fish, and…" he trailed off. "That can't be right."

"What?" Haku demanded.

"Inamaru's confused," Ibeki said, only to be barked at angrily by his dog. "Okay," he added dubiously. "Inamaru _insists_ that the third person was an Uchiha, but not the kid in your brother's class."

Motoba stiffened at that news. "Fuck," he muttered. The jounin bit his thumb and formed a hand sign, causing a forest owl to appear on his shoulder in a puff of smoke.

"What do you want?" The owl complained in a high voice. "The sun's up! I was sleeping…"

"Go to the Hokage right now," Motoba said. "Tell him that Itachi Uchiha entered the village last night and took the…" he trailed off, eyeing Naruto, "… Uzumaki kid's mother." The tiny owl grumbled under its breath but zipped off towards the center of the village.

Naruto was only processing the conversation around the edges as he clung to Haku, because all he could really focus on was the overwhelming emptiness of the house around him. Always before, home had been a place full of warmth, love and acceptance because Lily made it that way. Now it was cold, and not just because the front door was hanging open. All of the life and soul had been sucked out of the house.

"Mom's gone… she's really gone…" Naruto murmured brokenly.


	18. Platform Nine and Three Quarters

_Author's Note: Two different reviewers have commented on the age at which students enter Hogwarts in canon. For the purposes of this story, Hogwarts students begin their first year at twelve, not eleven._

Chapter Sixteen: Platform Nine and Three Quarters

* * *

"This is so cool," Harry Potter exclaimed happily, studying the eleven inch holly wand in his hand. "It feels… different. Nothing like the wand I practiced with at home."

"Put it away, Harry," Sirius told his godson with an indulgent smile. Abashed, Harry slid the wand back into the forearm dueling sheath that had been Sirius' gift to him during their trip to Ollivander's. He twitched his wrist, letting the sleeve of his new robes fall over it as he'd seen his godfather and 'Uncle' Remus do. Sirius nodded approvingly. "It feels different," Sirius explained quietly as they walked down Diagon Alley along with Kushina and Remus, "because it's attuned to your magical core. That's why Ollivander had you pick up different wands before that one. He's the best in Britain at sniffing out which wand will match which wizard."

Half an hour later Harry's Muggle backpack was stuffed with magical textbooks. It got a few odd looks, but he wasn't the only young witch or wizard with a backpack rather than an enchanted pouch, though every other child so equipped was accompanied by Muggle parents who stared wide-eyed at everything around them. His adult companions, by contrast, blended right into the crowds. His mother and godfather were wearing different faces, but he'd grown up seeing that, so it wasn't unusual for Harry. He'd long since gotten used to recognizing them by body language. Mum walked like a cat on the prowl, all fluid grace and always ready to pounce. Sirius had an assured swagger to his walk, and an ever so slight hitch to his step from what he claimed was an old quidditch injury to his leg.

The four of them had arrived in London early in the morning via the international Floo Network, and Sirius and Remus gave them the full tour of Diagon Alley. When they'd entered Gringott's to visit the Potter vault on his behalf and get funds for his school supplies Kushina and Sirius smirked at each other for some reason. In the lobby Harry had gaped at the sight of the biggest person he'd ever seen – a giant of a man with bristly black hair and beard – being taken to another vault by a goblin who didn't even come up to his knee.

The four of them had lunch at a wizarding pub, and Harry couldn't help giggling at the fizzy, tasty pop that tickled his sinuses relentlessly. He was in high spirits as they left Diagon Alley and headed to the train station. Learning basics from Sirius and Remus had been fun, but now he was going to go to a whole magical _school_! Harry couldn't wait to be surrounded by other kids who were just like him, kids he didn't have to lie to and keep at a distance like he had in the Muggle school in America.

"I'm so proud of you, Harry," Kushina told him as she helped him load his supplies onto a trolley; his trunk, the large cage with his new owl Hedwig, his pack full of books and everything else he needed for school. "You've grown up into such a strong, smart young man. I know you'll do great at Hogwarts."

"Thanks mum," Harry replied.

"Well," Kushina said, dabbing at a tear in her eye, "let's get you on this magical train I've heard so much about."

Remus went through the wall first, just to show Harry how it worked. Then Harry ran his cart up to speed and hit the wall as well. He experienced a moment of disorientation, and then he was on the other side. His rolling cart immediately hit something and stopped, causing him to hit the handlebar, bruising his midsection and sending him sprawling on the concrete. A strong hand grabbed Harry's wand arm and dragged him to his feet. Harry's eyes took in several things very quickly.

The train was not due to arrive for some time, so there were only a few other passengers and their families on the platform. All of them were piled up like cordwood in a corner, nothing moving but their eyes. Once back on his feet, Harry could see that his cart of luggage had in fact hit Remus, who was sprawled on the ground and not moving, his eyes shut. "Uncle Remus!" Harry cried out. He tried to go to the fallen man, but the person who had pulled him up tightened his grip.

"You're going nowhere, boy," his captor spat. Harry turned a bit to see a robed man wearing a mask and pointing a drawn wand at his face. Harry went still, recognizing the clear threat.

A moment later Kushina popped through the barrier. "Petrificus Totalus!" eight voices shouted in unison the moment she appeared. Harry watched his mother's body go completely rigid, only her suddenly rage-filled eyes moving.

"Well, well, if it isn't the gorilla bitch. Not so scary when you're not bouncing around like a crazed snitch, are you?" The speaker was a woman with frizzy black hair in a tight black dress who emerged from behind a support column.

"Bellatrix," Kushina grated out from between frozen lips.

"So the Muggle freak can speak!" Bellatrix exclaimed in mock amazement. As she spoke Sirius passed through the platform barrier and her wand came up quick as a snake.

"Look out!" Harry cried, earning a stunning blow to the head from his captor.

"Crucio," Bellatrix hissed.

Sirius had his wand halfway out of its holster when the curse hit. He folded over and fell, his body contorted and an agonized scream escaping his lips. Bellatrix sauntered over, kicking his wand away from his twitching hand before kicking him in the face. Harry heard cartilage break, but Sirius didn't even seem to notice it with the pain he was already feeling.

Bellatrix paused to cast a spell on the entrance to the platform that made the wall shimmer and turn black. "Everyone's here, no need for more guests," she murmured. Then she reapplied the Cruciatus to Sirius as the first started to wear off, an ecstatic grin on her face at his choked cries. "Still think stealing from me was a good idea, cousin?" Bellatrix jeered. "Tell me where the things you stole are and I might give you a quick death."

"Never," Sirius snarled, earning a third blast of agony.

Harry could see his mother's limbs starting to shake. Slowly, the fingers of her right hand closed into a fist. She started to move toward Bellatrix, but she was much slower than usual. "Petrificus Totalus," the eight wizards behind her shouted in unison again, and she froze once more.

Distracted from Sirius, Bellatrix turned to Kushina with a nasty smile. "Oh, you want some too? Sure. Crucio." Kushina's screams were more muted than Sirius' because she couldn't move her mouth, but they still tore at Harry's heart.

"Stop it," he yelled.

"Ah, the 'Boy who Lived'," Bellatrix murmured with relish, sauntering over to Harry. "There's someone who's most anxious to see you die," she hissed. "Are you ready to meet him?"

"I'm not afraid of you," Harry spat.

"Then you're brave and stupid; you'd have fit right into Gryffindor," Bellatrix replied. She drew a curved dagger carved with symbols on the hilt and blade that gave Harry chills just to look at. She lashed out with a viper's speed, and so keen was the edge that it was a second before Harry felt a cold shock of pain running down the left side of his face. Blood from the vertical gash above his eye got in it, blinding him on one side. He could feel warm wetness running down his cheek and dripping onto his new robes.

A howl of fury escaped Kushina's frozen lips. Slowly she started to move again, like a stone statue struggling to come to life. The Death Eaters paralyzed her in unison a third time, starting to look nervous. With a crazed smile on her face, Bellatrix raised the bloody blade to her lips and whispered three words. "Ab Aeterno Tibi." Reversing the knife in her grip she crouched and drove it down into the floor, where it sank halfway to the hilt into the concrete without any resistance.

The symbols carved into the blade and hit lit up with an eerie green light, and Harry could feel the temperature on Platform 9 ¾ drop significantly. He shivered, suddenly freezing even in his warm robes bought with a northern winter in mind.

Ethereal motes of viridian magic sparked out of thin air, swirling around the blade and coalescing together into a vaguely human form that refined itself until the translucent green shade of a very strange-looking man hovered in the air over the bloody knife. Harry shivered as he studied the man with half of his vision. His skin was deathly pale, his nose was missing and the rest of his face gave the impression of being as much snake as man.

"Vol…de…mort…" Kushina grated through clenched teeth.

Bellatrix went to one knee before the shade. "My Lord," Bellatrix spoke reverently, "we have them."

"So I see," Voldemort replied. Even his voice was thin and insubstantial. He floated closer to Harry, who shrank back reflexively. "The 'Boy who Lived'," he murmured mockingly, brushing Harry's unbloodied cheek with a feather-light touch that left his skin feeling ice-cold. "What a pleasure it is to stand before you again."

"Don't touch him you monster," Kushina snarled, taking a step toward Harry and earning a fourth volley of paralyzing spells. Harry was alarmed to see blood trickling from his mother's nostrils. Remus had once warned him about the internal damage that could be caused by too many spells striking an individual in a short span of time, but he'd never thought to see it in practice.

Voldemort turned from Harry and drifted close to Kushina, "Ah," he whispered with a serpent's smile, "my lovely guide. I owe you so much, but alas I do not even know your name." Kushina's eyes widened in surprise and confusion at Voldemort's unexpected greeting.

Voldemort glanced at Bellatrix, who shook her head, appearing abashed. "She's never spoken it," the dark witch admitted.

"Let us see if we can change that," Voldemort said with a sinister laugh. "Will you favor me with your name, dear lady?" Kushina only glared at him stonily. "How unfortunate; would suffering loosen your tongue, my guide?" Voldemort caressed Kushina's cheek in a mockery of affection. Harry saw her breath start to emerge as puffs of fog, and frost condensed on her skin. The spot Voldemort was touching turned white and then blue with frostbite. Kushina panted in distress, but she said nothing.

"Ah. You are no stranger to pain, I see; perhaps another approach is needed?" Voldemort drifted over to where Sirius lay on the ground. Tremors wracked his body, the after-effects of Bellatrix's Crucio. "Would you speak your name to save this one's life, I wonder?" Voldemort grinned at Kushina, and then plunged his insubstantial hand through Sirius' chest. Sirius shuddered and screamed, writhing on the ground. "His heart grows cold, dear lady," Voldemort informed Kushina mockingly. "Soon it will stop."

"Kushina," she spat at him. "My name is Kushina Uzumaki, damn you."

Voldemort withdrew his grasp and Sirius curled up in a ball, clutching his chest. "See? That wasn't so hard," Voldemort noted, gliding back to her. "Kushina! That's a lovely name for my dear guide. I've been looking forward to meeting you for so many years. You saved me, after all."

Kushina just glared. Her arm blurred into motion and her fingers were wreathed in flame for a moment. She drove them at Voldemort, but the Death Eaters stopped her again, the fire guttering out on fingertips just centimeters from Voldemort's face. Blood flowed freely from her nose and down her lips now, and more was oozing from the corners of her eyes and mouth.

"Now, now, that's not very nice," Voldemort scolded. "I'd like us to be friends." His gaze lost focus. "I wandered in those trackless mists where time loses meaning," he murmured softly. "There was no light, and I could not find my way. I was close to despair when I saw a flash of red in the gray." He smiled, and it was a frightening expression. "It was you, dear Kushina, running with such speed and purpose. I knew you had to be going somewhere. I followed you, and you led me back… home."

Harry didn't know what Voldemort was talking about, but he saw horrified realization in his mother's eyes. Because of her lessons he also saw when his captor's wand moved away from him in a moment of distraction. Kushina had drilled into him again and again that seeing opportunities and not exploiting them was how people taken captive died, so he didn't hesitate; he acted.

Harry drove his elbow backward with his full strength, driving it into the groin of the man behind him, who produced a surprisingly high-pitched scream. Harry kept moving, slamming the same elbow into the man's solar plexus and stomping on his foot, feeling bone break under both strikes. The man fell, and Harry stripped his wand away with his left hand. Turning ninety degrees, Harry drew his own wand with speed that would have made Sirius proud and shouted his favorite spell. "Stupefy!" The flash of red light drilled into one of the Death Eaters keeping his mother from moving. The dark wizard went flying, landing in a heap further down the platform.

The other seven turned on him with murderous intent. Harry threw himself forward and to the right as spells sizzled through where he had been standing. _Anyone who stops moving in a fight is dead; always be in motion or in cover_ , he could almost hear his mother's words in his head. Harry tucked into a roll that put one of the platform's support columns between him and the Death Eaters.

Unfortunately for Harry, losing vision on his left side meant he couldn't see Bellatrix taking a single step forward, her wand pointed at his unprotected flank. Near her feet, Remus' eyes snapped open and he raised his wand from where he lay.

"Cru-" Bellatrix started to say.

"Aqua Eructo," Remus snapped. A thin stream of water leapt from his wand with some force, right into Bellatrix's open mouth. She choked and gagged, crazed eyes widening in alarm. Remus rose to one knee, grabbed the top strap of Harry's book-laden backpack in his left hand and swung it. He connected with Bellatrix's gut, folding her over. He swung it again vertically, catching her on the chin and sending her sprawling on the ground.

Meanwhile Harry was sheltering behind his concrete pillar, feeling it shudder and seeing chips go flying by him as the Death Eaters hurled curses and jinxes at him. Without warning, the whole platform shook with a thunderous impact that almost threw Harry out of cover. From the corner of his eye he saw the black veil Bellatrix had cast on the entrance to the platform flicker for a moment. The unexpected impact had also knocked the Death Eaters off-balance, and Harry took advantage of the lull, throwing the wand he'd captured across the platform. It rolled to a stop against Sirius' prone body, and he snatched it up in shaking fingers, crawling into cover behind some wrought-iron benches. A moment later Remus was beside him, and they started hurling spells back at the Death Eaters. Once Harry wasn't under constant attack, he joined suit.

Voldemort's eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. "This won't do at all." He raised a hand, and an icy jet of blue magic shot from his fingers toward Harry's back. With a grunt of effort Kushina broke free of the paralysis, and this time the Death Eaters were too busy to immobilize her. She stepped between Harry and Voldemort. A chilly explosion consumed her, and when the light faded her raised left arm was encased in a solid block of ice from elbow to fingertip. That arm fell to her side, hanging limp. "If I brought you back to this world," Kushina growled, "then I'll take you out of it again." Puffing out her cheeks, Kushina exhaled a wide stream of fire. Voldemort snarled and launched another frost blast. Flame and ice met between them, raging back and forth as they fought to overpower each other.

Another noisy impact shook Platform 9 3/4, knocking everyone off-balance again. Remus and Sirius seemed to be expecting it, however, and recovered quickly. Each of them launched a quick spell that took a Death Eater out of the fight, lowering their number to five. With the enemy now focused on the grown-ups, Harry slipped his free hand into the pouch at his belt, coming out with a trio of what looked like pale marbles. He launched a stupefy spell to get the Death Eater looking at him to duck, and then crouched and carefully squeezed the orbs before sending them rolling across the floor toward the enemy position.

One of the Death Eaters spotted them as they approached and shouted in alarm, but by then it was too late. The marbles exploded in their midst, each shooting out pressurized jets of pale mist. In seconds the Death Eaters were coughing and retching, tearing off their masks and scrabbling at reddened faces. Out of cover they quickly fell to Sirius and Remus; in seconds there wasn't a Death Eater left standing. "What was that?" Remus asked, staring at the dissipating cloud.

"Mum's blister gas bombs," Harry replied calmly, trying to wipe away some of the blood on his face with his sleeve so he could see with both eyes again.

"She sent you to school with those?" Remus sounded mildly aghast.

"Isn't it good that she did?" Harry countered.

Further down the platform Kushina's fire and Voldemort's ice tapered off at the same moment. Kushina was panting and sweating despite the cold, and Voldemort was looking even more filmy and faint than he had before. "You cannot defeat me," Voldemort hissed. "I am immortal!"

Kushina shook her head wearily. "I've killed men who thought they were immortal before." She raised her right hand, and a howling orb of bluish-white light appeared in her palm. She lunged at him. Voldemort smirked as the rasengan passed right through his insubstantial body and frost rimed Kushina's skin where she touched him. Her answering grin was vicious, however. Planting one foot, she stomped the other on the ground. Just behind Voldemort, the section of concrete Bellatrix had sunk her knife into rose to chest height. "Goodbye, Moldy," Kushina said before driving the rasengan into the enchanted blade, shredding it into a hundred pieces.

"NOOOOOOOoooooooo…" Voldemort shrieked, his image wavering before vanishing entirely.

Gasping and shivering, Kushina turned around and ran to Harry, ignoring her frozen arm as she examined the gash on his face with concern. "Are you all right, sweetie? Does it hurt?"

"I'm okay, mum." Harry realized distantly that he was shaking all over from more than the cold. A third thunderous blast shook the platform, driving him to his knees. The spell Bellatrix had placed on the entrance flicked and finally died.

Soon Kushina was fussing over the wound to Harry's face, Remus was working a spell to stop the bleeding and Sirius was carefully melting the ice encasing Kushina's arm. Suddenly Harry spotted movement behind them. Bellatrix was on her feet, and the expression on her face was one of murderous rage. "Look out mum," Harry cried as her wand came up, cursing himself for sheathing his own.

Kushina turned the fastest, the rasengan springing back to life in her hand as Bellatrix's wand shimmered with malignant green light. "Avada kedavra," she shrieked.

There was little time to dodge and no way to block. Kushina was between Bellatrix and Harry; if she evaded the spell, it would strike Harry. Kushina blurred forward, and a violent concussive blast expanded from the point where the killing curse and the rasengan met. Kushina, being closest, flew halfway down the platform before striking a support pillar hard enough to leave an outline of her body in its surface. The shock wave hit Bellatrix next, sending her sailing toward the opposite end of the platform and leaving her with a nasty road rash from her ungentle skid across the concrete. Remus and Sirius shielded Harry with their bodies, protecting him from the blast.

In the ringing silence that followed, people started pouring through the entrance onto Platform 9 ¾. A few were aurors, while the rest were simply adult wizards and witches who had arrived with their children to discover the platform barricaded from the inside. Struggling to her feet, bleeding and missing skin on her face and arms, Bellatrix saw the flood of new arrivals. Among them was a tall old man who towered above most around him. Her eyes widened in fear and she quickly apparated away.

Harry processed these events only peripherally as he struggled to his feet. "Mum!" He screamed, sprinting down the platform to where Kushina had fallen and lay unmoving, her eyes closed. He rolled her over with shaking hands. "No, no, no!" Harry pressed a finger to the hollow of her neck. He felt a weak pulse, and saw a moment later that she was breathing, slow and shallow.

"Mum, wake up," Harry pled, shaking her gently. "Please wake up!" Holding her close, he could feel something missing. Always before when she hugged him, or picked him up, or tucked him in at night he could feel something alive and warm humming under her skin. It wasn't magic, and she called it 'chakra' when he asked. That feeling was gone now, and she was so cold and still. Harry clung to his mother desperately, trying to warm her with contact, tears making tracks through the drying blood on his face. "Wake up mum, please!"


	19. Echoes of War

Chapter Seventeen: Echoes of War

* * *

In the wake of Lily's abduction Naruto was whisked away from home to the Hokage's Tower, where he sat with Haku in a big, empty conference room listening to the flurry of activity going on throughout the building. Apparently the whole village had been locked down and searched door to door, but nothing had been found. The man with the red eyes was gone. _Mom was gone._

Naruto didn't want to go back to the house, but Haku coaxed him inside. His older brother was a fairly good cook, but Naruto didn't taste anything he ate, or notice Haku's frequent, concerned looks. Most of his attention was occupied with what the man with the red eyes had said. "Rage at your own powerlessness. Despise your weakness, and purge each fiber of it from your being. Hate is a potent tool; use it and grow strong. Become powerful enough to take your mother back, or remain forever bereft of her warmth and love."

"The man with the red eyes was right," Naruto whispered after dinner.

"What was that?" Haku asked as he cleared the table.

"The man who took mom was right; I am weak. I couldn't think straight or fight smart. I couldn't even stop shaking."

"Oh, Naruto," Haku sighed. He knelt beside Naruto's chair. "That's not true. You're not weak."

"I am," Naruto insisted stubbornly. "I should have been able to save mom."

"Naruto…" Haku said slowly. "You know I'm strong, right?" Naruto nodded. "Do you think I could have stopped that man from taking mother?"

"Of course you could!" Naruto exclaimed. "You can do anything, Haku!"

Haku shook his head immediately. "If I fought Itachi Uchiha, I would lose. He would kill me without expending any significant effort."

"But… you never lose, Haku!" Naruto protested.

"Do you know why I don't lose fights, Naruto? It's because I know when to run," Haku explained. "Do you think I could win a fight with the Hokage?"

Naruto frowned, considering that. "… I guess not."

"Right; I'm only a chuunin. I can't beat a kage. Itachi Uchiha is rumored to be as strong as a kage."

Naruto blinked. "Really?"

"Really," Haku said firmly. "Naruto, what happened last night was not your fault. No one blames you for it, and mother would be sad if she thought you blamed yourself. So you're not going to say you're weak anymore, right?"

"… okay." Naruto sniffled, and wiped his nose. "Haku, how are we going to get mom back?"

Haku looked away, but Naruto caught a glint of rage in his big brother's eyes, and realized suddenly that Haku must be angry and sad too, even if he wasn't showing it. "A chuunin isn't strong enough to kill a kage," Haku said quietly, his voice cold and precise, "but I'm not going to stay a chuunin. I'm going to become a jounin and join ANBU. I'm going to learn everything that the strongest shinobi in Konoha can teach me, and I'm going to forge alliances. Kakashi could maybe fight Itachi with a good team at his side; I have to be stronger than he is and find potent allies willing to face Itachi with me." Haku looked back at Naruto, and the ice in his dark eyes melted a bit as a smile crossed his flawless face. "You don't need to worry, Naruto. I will become strong enough to kill Itachi Uchiha and rescue mother."

The confidence in Haku's voice made Naruto feel better. He knew his brother didn't boast. If Haku said he could do something, then he could do it. "Okay," Naruto said, "but I'm going to help."

"Naruto…"

"I have to get stronger too, Haku," Naruto continued stubbornly. "I'm not just going to wait for you to save mom all by yourself. I know I took longer to finish the Academy than you, and I know genin is the lowest rank, but I won't stay a genin. I'll train and I'll get promoted, and when you're ready to go after the man with the red eyes, I'll be ready to fight by your side. We'll get mom back together."

Haku smiled and hugged him, and Naruto felt okay for the first time that day. "Okay, Naruto," Haku agreed. "We'll get her back together." He leaned back and looked at Naruto seriously. "You also have an advantage that you don't even know about."

Naruto blinked. "I do?"

Haku nodded. "The Hokage gave me permission today to tell you one of Konoha's most closely guarded secrets. I convinced him that as an official shinobi of Konoha you're old enough to know."

"What is it?" Naruto asked. He felt a bit excited despite himself.

"Well, you know how your birthday is the same time as Remembrance Day for the Kyuubi's attack every year?"

* * *

Naruto's head was still spinning a bit with shock as he walked into the Academy a day late to find out what his team assignment was going to be. _I'm the Kyuubi,_ he thought numbly for the hundredth time, before mentally correcting himself. _I'm the Kyuubi's jailor._ Haku had been absolutely firm on that point, making him repeat it several times.

Looking back, Naruto suddenly understood with the clarity of hindsight why he'd had so few friends in spite of his best efforts. The cold looks that so many villagers gave him and mom made sense now.

"Did mom know?" Naruto had asked Haku in a small voice once the explanation was done.

"Of course she did," Haku insisted, "and she couldn't have loved you more. She didn't care about the Kyuubi, and anyone who does… well, they're all fools."

Shaking off his reverie as he stepped into Iruka's classroom, Naruto was surprised to see that Sakura and Sasuke were already at their desks, waiting. "Hey, didn't you guys get your team assignments yesterday?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke shook his head. "Iruka said that the two of us and you weren't getting an assignment yet and we should come back today."

"Huh. Are we going to wind up on a team together?" Naruto wondered.

Sakura had silently risen from her desk as soon as Naruto had entered the room. She walked down the steps and over to him, and then to the surprise of both boys she hugged Naruto. "Mom told me last night about what happened to Aunt Lily. I'm so sorry, Naruto." She drew back, her jade eyes compassionate and concerned. "Are you okay?"

Naruto forced a smile. He'd done enough crying, and he wasn't going to start in front of Sasuke. He was a ninja now. "I'm fine Sakura, but thank you."

Sasuke studied the pair. "Something happened to your mother, Naruto?"

Sakura winced; they both knew that Itachi's first crime against Konoha had been the murders of his entire clan save for their classmate. "Oh… you didn't hear, Sasuke?" Sakura murmured.

"You brother kidnapped my mom," Naruto replied shortly. "Hope you don't mind, but Haku and I are going to kill him and take her back. It's nothing personal."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "No one's going to kill my brother but me," he growled. "Tell you what Naruto; once _I_ hunt Itachi down, I'll bring your mom back for you."

Sparks of fledgling killing intent flew between Naruto and Sasuke. Sakura backed up, sweating a bit. "Umm, guys…"

Naruto and Sasuke were both struck in the head a moment later by expertly flung erasers. They turned in a cloud of chalk dust to see Iruka stroll into the classroom. "If you two want to spar, go outside," he warned. "Now, do you three want your team assignments, or not?"

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged one last glare before turning to their former teacher. "Umm… sensei, are we being assigned together?" Sakura asked timidly.

Iruka shook his head. "No, sorry; normally the top male and female students are teamed with the lowest scoring student, but you three are all top of your class, and that's a bit too much talent to concentrate in a single team." Sakura blushed at the praise.

"Actually, it's because you three are all very promising that you're being given more challenging assignments. As you know, Konoha's been fighting border skirmishes with Kumo ever since their internal struggle over succession ended. It's not quite a war yet but it's getting there." Iruka's expression was suddenly grim, and all three genin swallowed hard.

"Naruto, Sasuke, you will be joining genin teams that graduated last year. These two teams each lost a member during the fighting with Kumo recently. You're the replacements, and you're going to be heading right back out to the front lines in the borderlands."

"And… what will I be doing?" Sakura inquired, looking nervous.

"Sakura, because of your exceptional academic achievement and chakra control – and because the village's medical corps has made an urgent appeal to the Hokage for more personnel – you are going to receive an assignment that is ordinarily only given to chuunin. You'll be heading to the front as well, to serve as an apprentice to a jounin-ranked medical ninja in one of the field hospitals."

Sakura's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Oh… oh wow… I mean… really?" Her voice squeaked a bit toward the end, and she flushed in embarrassment.

Iruka nodded. "You'll be receiving one-on-one training and learning on the job. It's going to mean very long hours and a lot of hard work, but your instructors – including myself – all think you can handle it. If you complete the apprenticeship successfully you'll be automatically promoted to chuunin, and with the manpower shortages in medical you'd be on track to be a jounin before you're twenty."

While Sakura was letting that sink in, Iruka turned back to Naruto and offered him an envelope with sealed orders. "Naruto, you'll be joining Team Nine. They've distinguished themselves in the field already. On their last mission the team's members were separated after an ambush. One of the genin as well as their jounin-sensei are currently listed as MIA. The team will be getting a new sensei in addition to you."

Naruto opened the envelope, skimming over the names. He didn't recognize any of them. 'Neji Hyuuga'… _well I recognize the clan name at least; bunch of stuck-up pricks, but deadly melee fighters according to Haku._ 'Rock Lee'… _weird name._ 'Sensei: Genma Shiranui'… _never heard of him; maybe Haku has._ Below the roster a training ground and a time that afternoon were listed, where he was to report to meet his new team.

Busy with his reading, Naruto didn't hear the details of Sasuke's assignment. The Uchiha took his orders and left without another word. Sakura got her orders last, which apparently consisted of textbooks she needed to obtain, a train ticket, and the name of her sensei who would be meeting her at the station near the border. She turned to go, but Naruto touched her arm. "Sounds like we're heading to the same area, at least," he said. "I'll come find you when I make it to the border."

Sakura smiled, looking excited now that she was over her shock. "Sure, sounds good." She bounced on her toes. "I got a medical assignment; mom's going to freak, but in a good way!" After a moment she looked guilty. "I mean… sorry Naruto."

Naruto shook his head, ignoring the pang in his chest. "That's okay, Sakura. I'm happy for you. Tell Aunt Mebuki I'm doing fine. She doesn't need to worry about me."

Sakura's eyes softened. "Okay, Naruto," she murmured. "Well, like you said we're all headed to the same region. If you need anyone to talk to – or anything else – I'll be there."

"Thanks, Sakura."

Once he was alone with Iruka, Naruto hesitated. "Ahh… sensei?"

"Yes Naruto?"

"Does my new team know…" he paused, pressing a hand to his stomach, "about what's inside me?"

Iruka's gaze sharpened. "Do _you_ know what's inside you?"

Naruto nodded. "The Hokage gave my brother permission to tell me about the Kyuubi."

"I see," Iruka said slowly. "The answer is yes and no. Genma is aware of your situation. Neji and Lee are not, but you're free to tell them if you wish."

"Do you think I should?" Naruto asked quietly.

Iruka considered it. "I don't think they'd react poorly, but that's not a guarantee. Genin teams need to be able to trust each other, but consider getting to know them a bit before sharing your secrets, because they'll likely be doing the same. Talk to Genma about if it you want. His job is to teach and advise you."

"I see. Thank you, sensei." Naruto paused again. "Genma… is he strong?"

Iruka laughed. "He's a jounin, Naruto. Weak men don't reach that rank."

Naruto squirmed a bit. "I know, but... you know what happened to my mom, right?"

Iruka nodded sympathetically. "I was sorry to hear about that."

"Well… Haku and I are going to get her back, and I need to be a lot stronger to beat the man with red eyes. That means I need a strong teacher."

"I understand," Iruka said, giving Naruto a serious look. "Let me put it this way: Genma is very strong. I know things about him I can't share because they're classified above your rank, but here's what I _can_ tell you. Genma was a member of the Forth Hokage's bodyguard and received instruction from him personally. Only the most capable jounin get an assignment like that. If you mind Genma's words and learn everything he can teach you, you will have taken a big step toward being strong enough to face Itachi Uchiha."

"Okay," Naruto said. "Thanks, sensei."

"Anytime."

* * *

Once he was alone in his classroom Iruka moved over to his desk, absently straightening his papers. He stood still for several minutes, and then he turned with blurring speed and buried his hand past the wrist in the chalkboard, his face suddenly contorted into a furious grimace. "They're just kids," Iruka growled. "They're not ready for a war! Damn you for making me do that, Hokage-sama," he pulled his fist out of the jagged hole with a grimace, shaking off stone dust and watching blood well up from the cuts left by the edges of the slate. "Damn him for penning those orders, and damn me for not telling him where to stick them."

* * *

It took Naruto a while to locate Training Ground Seventeen; it was way out in the woods beyond the village wall, and there wasn't much in the way of signage. As a result, he was the last of his team to make it there.

He'd actually been about to walk past the entrance, but he'd heard repetitive impacts coming from inside and changed his course. The rapid thumps were the result of a muscular youth in a green jumpsuit pounding away at a training post with bandage-wrapped fists. Naruto couldn't help but notice that the other boy was putting dents in hardwood with his bare hands, and two other posts – cut from whole trees – were already splintered ruins nearby.

The other boy in the clearing was sitting on a tree branch with his back against the trunk. His eyes were closed, but raised veins bulged around them. He wore white, and his long, dark hair fell past his waist, tied up with a cord at the end.

"Lee, our new teammate is here," the boy in the tree announced. His eyes opened, revealing pale irises that lacked pupils.

Lee, the boy in green, paused in his attempt to demolish the training post and turned around. "Thank you, Neji," he replied politely.

Naruto's first impression of the pair was the contrast between them. Neji possessed aristocratic features and a masculine beauty that rivaled Haku's. Lee's face was plain, with an unfortunate bowl cut and thick eyebrows that only added to the problem. "Hi," Naruto greeted both of them. "Nice to meet you. I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

"Welcome to Team Nine," Lee replied solemnly, "at least for the time being."

Naruto blinked. "Pardon?" Iruka hadn't said anything about the assignment being temporary.

"Ignore him," Neji told Naruto wearily. "Lee still labors under the misapprehension that our former teammate and sensei are alive. After this much time, 'MIA' just means 'dead and we'll never find the bodies'."

"They are alive!" Lee declared stubbornly. "Gai-sensei is too strong to die!"

"If strength bestowed immortality the Fourth Hokage would still be alive," Neji replied sarcastically as he dropped down from his perch. Moving closer, he studied Naruto. "So what can you do beyond the Academy basics? Clones and substitution aren't going to be enough to keep you alive where we're going."

Naruto flicked a finger at the training post Lee had been beating on. Splinters flew into the air, and a thin, centimeter-deep vertical gash appeared amid the craters Lee had made. "Wind chakra," Neji murmured. "Elemental manipulation from a fresh Academy graduate isn't bad. What's your range?"

Naruto flicked a finger again in a different direction. Lee glanced into the trees, looking puzzled. "Nothing happened."

"Yes it did," Neji contradicted Lee. "Not bad at all. The teammate we lost was our sniper. Good to know her replacement can engage at a distance."

Naruto glanced in the direction he'd sent the second wind blade. "Is that the limit of _your_ range?" He asked Neji. That earned a quick smirk from the Hyuuga and a shake of his head.

"Well it's nice to see you three getting along already," a new voice commented. Naruto and Lee turned in surprise. Neji didn't react at all. Standing behind them was a brown-haired man with a blue bandana and bodysuit under the standard green flak jacket. A senbon was clenched between his teeth and his hands rested in his pockets. "My name's Genma Shiranui. I used to watch the Hokage's back. Now it's my job to watch yours until your backs don't _need_ watching anymore."

Lee pressed a fist to an open hand and bowed. "It will be my honor to work with you until Gai-sensei returns, sir."

Neji sighed, but Genma grinned encouragingly at Lee. "Hey, that's the spirit. It's nice to meet a kid in this line of work with some positivity left in him; you hold onto that attitude. I'd be pretty happy to see Gai alive myself. Maybe we'll even find him once we get into the field up north."

"Yosh!" Lee shouted happily.

"Naruto here hasn't been briefed on what we're heading into," Genma continued, "so why don't you two tell him about your tour on the border?"

Neji nodded shortly, leaning against an undamaged training post. "We arrived on the border six months ago. It was our team's first long-term assignment away from the village. At that point there wasn't really much open fighting. We were building hidden camps and supply dumps, and the Cloud ninja were doing the same. Team Nine's specific assignment was force recon. We slipped over the border to keep an eye on the enemy, spying on their movements, mapping their camp locations… and engaging in some sabotage and ambushes when we saw an opportunity."

"It went pretty well for the first few months, but then we started encountering more resistance," Neji continued. "We were the hunted as often as the hunters. We still managed to evade anything we couldn't take care of, but the work got harder. Our side and theirs started fighting small battles for strategic locations."

Neji paused, his jaw bunching in anger. "Our last foray… we should have known it was a setup, because it started off _too_ smoothly. We got deep behind their lines, derailed a train full of supplies… and then they were all over us out of nowhere. We ran into the hills and established distance from the pursuit, but they stayed on our tails no matter what tricks we used. They drove us into a scrub forest valley, and that's where we lost Tenten. We'd been running for so long I had to give my eyes a rest, and that's when she stepped on a mantrap," he admitted angrily. "The damned thing put steel spikes through her calf and thigh. If we'd pried it open she would have bled out, and it was papered with bomb tags set to go off if we tried to move her. Gai ordered Lee and I to get back to camp with the intel while he stayed behind to disarm the bombs. We got out safely; they never made it back. We returned to that valley in force, but everything was gone and the trails were cold."

"The border is mostly forested, but it's not like the terrain around here," Lee picked up the briefing. "It's hilly, and the trees are smaller and further between; on most of the ridges it's just bare rock, maybe some thorn bushes or wild grass. There weren't many people living out there, mostly just goat and sheep herders. They've all cleared out, though."

Naruto blinked. "Then why are we fighting over it?"

Neji shrugged. "Never heard a good answer to that question."

"Politics," Genma answered that one. "The new Raikage's hold on power back home is tenuous; he just spent several years killing all of his rivals for the title. Now he's picking a fight with Konoha to shore up domestic support and show everyone outside of the Land of Lightning that he's a badass and not to be fucked with. No one really cares about the land we're defending now other than those goat herders Lee mentioned. If the Cloud ninja take those hills from us, however, not only does Konoha lose face but they'd be poised to invade the valleys south of the borderlands. That's wine country, which is a very lucrative trade good. We took that province from them in the last big war, and they'd love to have it back."

"Okay," Naruto said. "That makes sense. What's our specific mission going to be?"

"Our general assignment is the same one Team Nine had before; force recon. We're going to go into enemy territory, travel light and move fast, and gather intel while striking at targets of opportunity," Genma replied. "Beyond that, we will have two specific objectives."

"Finding Gai-sensei and Tenten?" Lee asked hopefully.

"Locating captured friendlies is one objective, yes. Other scouts and recon teams have been running into traps and ambushes similar to what you experienced. There are currently eight MIA Leaf shinobi in that theater, and the Hokage wants them back. But that's a secondary objective, not the primary; there are other teams better equipped to track prisoner movement."

"So our primary objective is?" Neji inquired.

"We're going to pick up a special liaison when we get to the border, a hunter ninja I've worked with before. She's going to help us find the shinobi that are setting these traps, and we're going to neutralize them. That work for you?"

Lee's expression was grim as he nodded, and Neji's pale eyes were cold. "Good," Genma murmured. "Our train leaves in the morning at eight sharp. Do not be late. Neji, go with Naruto back to town before the quartermaster's office closes. Help him requisition the supplies he's going to need for our deployment."

"Understood," Neji murmured, glancing at Naruto. "Hope you can keep up." Without warning he took off at a sprint and vanished into the trees.

"Hey!" Naruto objected, but took off after his new teammate gamely. "At least I don't have to do D-ranks," he reminded himself as he struggled to keep Neji's retreating form in sight.


	20. Sorted

Chapter Eighteen: Sorted

* * *

Bagpipes keened and rain poured from the sky a week after the battle on Platform 9 ¾ as Kushina Uzumaki's casket was lowered into the earth, but Harry Potter's eyes were dry, cold and hard. He'd already done his mourning privately. His mother's funeral was not private, and his pain was not for others to see. That was one of his mother's many lessons, and he intended to put what she had taught him to use on her behalf. Every note from the pipes was a knife in Harry's heart, but he let none of it show on his face. He accepted the pain and internalized it and put it away somewhere dark and far away where it would remain until he could return it to Bellatrix Black a hundred-fold.

A priest Harry didn't know was talking, but he tuned it out. His memory kept running through the events of that day. He could hear the noisy exchange of spells during the terrifying, chaotic fight with the Death Eaters. He could feel his mother's cold hand gripped tightly in his during the frantic trip to St. Mungo's. He could recall with crystal clarity an aging wizard with a stethoscope around his neck entering the room where he'd waited with Remus and telling him that his mother had passed away in spite of their best efforts. He couldn't forget the feeling of the whole world crashing down around his shoulders.

Remus sat to Harry's right, his hand firm and warm on Harry's shoulder. Sirius couldn't attend openly, since there were still multiple warrants out for his arrest and the funeral was guarded by a number of aurors wary for another attempt on the life of the Boy who Lived. Every so often, however, Harry caught sight of a dark, furred form in the shadows cast by the trees at the edge of the cemetery, and knew that his godfather was there, too.

When the talking was over Harry was the first to stand by the edge of the grave and drop a handful of earth on the polished wood of the casket's lid. "Goodbye, mum," he whispered before turning and walking away.

A few hours later Harry stared out the back window of the Ministry car he rode in with Remus as they were driven back to the train station. The Hogwarts Express and the start of term had been delayed in the wake of the attack on Platform 9 ¾, but life moved on for everyone, even a first-year who had just lost his mother.

Harry was silent and alone with his thoughts on the drive. When he'd gotten old enough to notice that he looked nothing like his mother he'd asked the obvious question: "Mum, am I adopted?"

Kushina had calmly confirmed that he was. "Your birth mother Lily was a good person who did me a great service. I promised her I'd take care of you, and it's been an easy promise to keep because I love you so much."

Later, when Harry had realized that her power was different from Sirius' and his he'd asked about that too. She hadn't gone into detail, but he understood that she was originally from somewhere very far away, and she was the only one of her kind in Britain, the only person with chakra. He'd never thought about what that meant until now, how alone she must have felt. _I guess now I'll never know all the things she was waiting to tell me when I got older._

Harry glanced away from the window to Remus, and asked, "Is Professor Dumbledore a good person?" He'd met the old wizard at the station in the wake of the attack and a few times since. Dumbledore had certainly been very kind, but Harry couldn't shake the sense that something was off about the way Hogwarts' Headmaster looked at him.

Remus considered that for a moment. "Albus Dumbledore is the greatest and wisest wizard I know, Harry. He defeated a Dark Lord and restored the light to Europe before either of us was born. He is the greatest living foe of evil in all of magical Britain, and Hogwarts is the premier school of wizardry in the world in part because he is the Headmaster."

Harry nodded. Considering Remus' words carefully, he realized that his uncle hadn't actually answered his question. Then again, they were sitting right behind two Ministry men, so it wasn't a wholly private conversation.

* * *

After departing the funeral of Harry Potter's abductor/guardian – mostly to keep an eye on him in the unlikely event that another attempt was made on his life – Albus Dumbledore headed to the Ministry, making his way into the depths of the Department of Mysteries. "I thought you'd be dropping by, Albus," Saul Croaker greeted him when he entered the restricted wing. "Come to check on our newest acquisition?"

"I have indeed," Dumbledore affirmed.

"This way," Saul gestured. The Department of Mysteries was already located underground, but Croaker led Dumbledore to an elevator that dropped further into the earth. When it stopped, they emerged into a small room with a large vault-like door on the far side. A witch with iron-gray hair and a serious, dour face sat behind a desk next to the elevator, and Saul had to sign his name in her log book and press the tip of his wand to the entry before she gestured with her own, opening the magical locks on the door.

Beyond the portal was a short, straight corridor cut clean through the bedrock. At staggered intervals to either side were barred doors to small cells. The steel shimmered with spells of containment, and each cell was occupied by something that had once been a witch or a wizard. Dumbledore glimpsed more than one horror through those doors. He saw a wizard who had two heads that argued loudly with each other. He glimpsed a witch huddled on the floor, shivering and moaning as she rapidly aged from a maiden to a crone and then reversed her direction through time until a girl child knelt in her place. Those were merely the first two of a dozen cells lining the hall.

Saul and Dumbledore followed the hallway to its end, which was blocked by another solid-looking enchanted door. This one Saul opened with his wand, and both wizards stepped through onto an irregularly shaped ledge overlooking a small natural cavern. The space was illuminated with blue light from above and orange from below.

The blue light came from glowing mirrors embedded in the ceiling and upper walls. Four heavy steel chains were also driven into the ceiling, and they supported the weight of a 10 x 10 x 10 meter transparent cube that hung motionless in the center of the chamber.

The faint orange light came from far below, along with gusts of air hot enough to put a sheen of perspiration on Dumbledore's face. So deep underground were they that magma bubbled away quietly at the bottom of the cavern.

Staring across the gap between the ledge and the hanging cell, Dumbledore studied the red-haired woman who knelt motionless in the center. She wore an orange jumpsuit, and the left sleeve was knotted up and tied off, since the arm it held had been amputated above the elbow. Hard blue eyes snapped open and focused on Dumbledore. He felt a shiver run down his spine, and something like the ghost of a blade pressed against his neck. Saul actually took a step back, tugging at his collar nervously.

"I just came from your funeral, my dear," Dumbledore told the prisoner calmly. "It was a touching service. You would be proud of how strong and composed young Harry was. I believe this experience will serve to strengthen him, in the long run."

"You miserable back-stabbing piece of shit," Kushina replied venomously.

"There's really no need for that kind of language," Dumbledore chided her. "I held up my side of the bargain you forced me into. I removed the bounty from your head and ensured Harry Potter's freedom of movement. I will not attempt to prevent him from returning to Remus' capable care when the school year ends. I never said I would not act to remove _your_ negative influence from young Harry's life if the opportunity presented itself." He sighed. "You must understand Kushina, that none of this is personal; I simply cannot allow you to stand in the way of what must happen."

"I'm going to get out of here once I'm back to full strength," Kushina warned. "You can't keep me away from my son."

Dumbledore only smiled gently. "Saul, is she going to 'get out of there'?"

Croaker chuckled. "Unlikely. The Daedalus Cell originally contained an extradimensional entity that became permanently fused with a wizard named Poggus Chambers in 1936. My predecessors weren't quite sure where the thing came from or how to send it back, but since being near it for too long tended to drive people insane they built this," he gestured to the suspended cube and the mirrors above that bathed it in azure light. "Each mirror maintains a different warding spell. If those wards are sufficiently disturbed that a breach becomes a risk, the chains supporting the cell will break, sending it and its contents straight down into the Earth's mantle."

Dumbledore had the slight satisfaction of seeing a moment of apprehension on Kushina's face as she looked up at the chains supporting her prison. "Why go to all this trouble?" She asked at last. "Why not just kill me when you had the chance if I'm such a threat to you?"

"Unlike you my dear, I do not take lives lightly," Dumbledore replied sternly. "To kill is the ultimate failure. In truth, I wish that this was not necessary."

Kushina pounded her fist on the glass in frustration. "This _isn't_ necessary! I've done nothing to warrant this treatment! My sole charge for the last twelve years has been my promise to Lily Potter, to ensure that Harry was safe, happy and loved. For that you put me in a cage where I can't protect him?"

"Somewhere above us is a very special room," Dumbledore replied quietly. "It is filled with recordings of prophecies. One of them relates to Harry Potter and the true, final defeat of Voldemort. Since hearing that prophecy, _my_ sole charge has been to ensure that it comes to pass. Your every action since barging your way into young Harry's life has threatened the fruition of that prophecy."

"Let me out of here and I'll finish off that shade and all of his followers," Kushina offered. "Your prophecy won't be needed."

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. "I am afraid that is not possible. While I have no doubt that you would continue to cut a bloody path through the ranks of the Death Eaters if left free, you cannot end the threat that Voldemort represents with more violence. Conflict is his meat and mead; it makes him stronger. Only young Harry can extinguish Voldemort's menace once and for all, and he will not grow into the man he must be to face his enemy with your sheltering hand forever guarding him from adversity."

"You're insane," Kushina said raggedly, staring at Dumbledore in horror. "You're going make my son suffer, make him fight that monster on his own and maybe die… all because of the ravings of someone who thinks they can see the future?"

"I am doing what must be done, my dear, as distasteful as I find it," Dumbledore said gravely. "You will remain here as a guest of the Unspeakables until the prophecy has been concluded. Once young Harry has met the challenge of his destiny, you will be free to rejoin him." Dumbledore turned to leave, and Kushina pounded on the glass again, hard enough to make one of the mirrors flicker for a moment.

"You can't do this," Kushina shouted, her gaze turning to Saul. "You can't let him do this, you must see it's lunacy. I've done nothing to deserve imprisonment; please let me protect my son!"

"You are a chaotic element, your capabilities unknown," Saul informed Kushina seriously. "I agree with Albus that you are far too dangerous to remain a free agent, but I will endeavor to make your stay here at the Department of Mysteries as tolerable as I can." Both men stepped back through the heavy metal door, and it started to swing shut.

"Damn you Dumbledore, let me out of here! Harry needs-" Kushina's voice was cut off abruptly when the door closed and sealed itself.

* * *

Inside the train station Harry noticed immediately that there were a number of men in Muggle suits who watched everyone with hard eyes and occasionally touched their arms as though they were wearing dueling sheaths for wands. There were several more lingering around the entrance to Platform 9 ¾, and inside the aurors were in uniform, their badges visible on armbands.

Harry was aware of the looks and whispers as people noticed him, but he ignored it. The jury was still out on Voldemort's return in the court of public opinion, but it was known that a number of dark wizards had attacked the 'Boy who Lived' and been defeated even before the aurors had arrived.

Harry found an empty car on the train and stowed his things. He noted frequent glances from outside, but at first no one dared join him. That changed when a boy with freckles and vibrantly red hair levered the door open. "Mind if I join you, mate? Other cars are filling up." he inquired, flopping down across from Harry ahead of an answer.

"Do what you want," Harry replied.

The redhead blinked. "Right… Hey that whole thing the other day was mental, wasn't it? Dark wizards attacking people in the middle of London! The train to Hogwarts has never been delayed before; my mum's been worrying her head off. She almost didn't let me come today until da put his foot down."

Harry was silent for a moment before responding, reminding himself that the other boy didn't mean to poke a fresh wound. "'Mental' is one word for it," he replied at last before nodding at the window. "I think we're reasonably safe, though. Given how many aurors are out there now anyone who tried to start trouble would definitely be described as 'mental'."

That got a laugh. "Too true, mate." He leaned forward extending a hand. "My name's Ron, by the way. Ronald Weasley."

Harry studied the offered hand for a moment, and the boy it was attached to. Ron's robes were older than Harry's and didn't fit as well. They showed signs of mending, albeit by a skilled seamstress or tailor. Kushina's voice came to Harry unbidden. _Trust no one without cause, but don't establish distance for the sake of itself. You can't find out if someone's an ally or an enemy if you never take the trouble to know them._

Harry reached out and shook the offered hand. "My name's Harry. Harry Potter."

Ron's jaw dropped in sudden recognition. "Bloody hell, it is you! Your face was on the front page of the paper, but I didn't recognize you without all the blood." He leaned closer, studying the left side of Harry's face. "That is a nasty-looking scar, mate. Did the healers forget to fix it?"

Harry shook his head, his fingers lightly brushing the fresh vertical scar that stretched down from hairline to bisect his eyebrow. The irony was that it was just centimeters from the location of the scar he'd had when he was younger, the jagged one that had faded after his Uncle Remus removed the curse from it. "They offered, actually," Harry explained. "I asked them to leave it, as a reminder."

"Really? A reminder of what?" Ron exclaimed.

"The witch who gave it to me killed my mum. I'm keeping it as a reminder that someday I'm going to make her pay," Harry explained flatly.

"That's… I'm so sorry, mate. That's rough." Ron said awkwardly. "Is it true what folks interviewed by the Daily Prophet are saying," he asked after a moment, "that you fought a bunch of grown wizards and _won_?"

Harry shook his head immediately. _Being underestimated is a weapon; don't surrender a weapon for something as silly as pride._ "I got away from the goon who grabbed me by hitting him in the bollocks. My relatives were the ones who fought back. So Ron, are you from a wizarding family?"

"Of course," Ron replied with a scoff. With little prompting he was talking about his apparently large family, and Harry relaxed a bit with attention off of himself. He lost track of how many older brothers Ron apparently had before he was done listing them, but nodded in all the right places.

A few minutes later the door to the cabin opened again, and both boys looked up to see a girl with a voluminous mane of bushy brown hair enter and take a seat on the corner of Harry's bench without saying a word. She was carrying a copy of the Daily Prophet, and buried her nose in it without even looking at either of them.

When the silence stretched on and the girl showed no sign of greeting them Ron's expression began to darken. He looked ready to say something, but Harry held up a hand and shook his head. Ron leaned back in his seat, looking disgruntled, but once the train started to move and the girl _still_ hadn't looked up or said anything he started to smile reluctantly, and then he laughed. The newspaper dipped down, and when the girl saw that he was looking at her, she scowled. "Is something funny?"

"Look at the front page," Ron chortled, "and then look next to you." The girl did so, and the expression of shock on her face made Ron laugh even harder.

Taking pity on her, Harry extended a hand. "I'm Harry Potter. The joker here is Ron Weasley."

She blushed, but took his hand firmly. "I'm Hermione Granger. Are you… a celebrity?"

Ron blinked. "You don't know? How can you have never heard of Harry Potter, The Boy who Lived… and then bloody vanished into thin air for a decade?"

Hermione blinked rapidly. "Sorry, all of this is rather new to me," she admitted defensively. "I've been playing catch-up ever since I got my letter."

"It's fine," Harry assured her. "You're used to riding the tube a lot, aren't you?" Hermione nodded. "I could tell." He glanced at Ron. "Muggles who ride trains usually don't talk to the people they sit next to, especially in cities. They value privacy over a courtesy that a stranger might not want."

"Oh," Ron said. "You're Muggle born?" Hermione nodded again. "Wait, how do you know that?" Ron asked Harry.

"Where do you think the 'Boy who Lived' vanished _to_? I saw Diagon Alley for the first time yesterday. Only difference between Hermione and I is I had magical relatives to teach me a few things."

Hermione appeared more comfortable after hearing that. Ron regaled her with a mostly accurate tale of Harry's past. He didn't bother correcting the inaccuracies, only making note of them. Apparently his disappearance was as famous an event as his encounter with Voldemort in the crib.

When the snack cart came through Harry saw Ron and Hermione both getting out homemade sandwiches. Harry didn't have much of an appetite, but when he saw Ron eyeing the cart wistfully he ordered enough for all three of them. He was still very aware of the fact that he apparently was heir to an estate that included a stack of gold in Gringott's taller than he was, so there was no reason not to treat his new acquaintances. Ron's gratitude was heartfelt and his appetite immense, while Hermione thanked him politely but ate her sandwich before trying the snacks. She actually seemed more interested in studying the various magical treats than eating them.

Hermione read every collectable card from the boxes of animate chocolate frogs including the one featuring Headmaster Dumbledore, which led to a discussion of Hogwarts' history. Harry and Ron were both startled to find out that Hermione had done her school shopping a month previous, and had already read every single textbook they were assigned, cover to cover. More than that, it sounded like she remembered a lot of it.

"Harry my boy, find the smartest fellow in your year and befriend him. It will make the book work so much easier." That advice had come from Sirius, and been followed by a grin in Remus' direction, who glanced back sourly. Hermione certainly wasn't a 'fellow', but Harry suspected he may have already found the smartest student in his year.

* * *

Night had fallen by the time the Hogwarts Express arrived at its destination. The older students poured off of the train with purpose, while the first-years milled around the platform until a black-bearded giant carrying a lantern bellowed at them to follow him down to the lake shore. Harry was surprised to see that it was the same towering man he'd seen in Gringott's days before. His name was Hagrid, apparently, and he was the school groundskeeper.

Hagrid herded the first-year students into boats that looked like swans and moved under their own power. A stout auburn-haired boy took the fourth seat on the boat Harry, Ron and Hermione had claimed, introducing himself as Neville Longbottom. The trip across the lake afforded the twelve year olds the opportunity to study the majestic castle rising from the far shore. Floating lanterns drifted over the water and swarmed around the towers of Hogwarts like fireflies. Even though Remus and Sirius had both described the castle to Harry, he couldn't help but study it in wonder forgetting his grief for a moment. Hermione's eyes were wide, and even Ron and Neville seemed impressed by the sight.

Disembarking on the far dock, the first-years trailed behind Hagrid up a series of stone stairways and then into the castle itself. When Hagrid left them there was some milling around and quiet, excited muttering until a loud tap of wood on stone was heard. They all looked up the final set of stairs to see a severe-faced old witch in a dark dress and a broad-brimmed pointy hat rapping her wand on the bannister.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she announced. "I am Professor McGonagall. In a few moments you will pass through the doors behind me and join your classmates. But before you take your seats, you must be sorted into your houses. They are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. While you are here, your house will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you house points. Your failures will lose points. At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup. The Sorting ceremony will begin in a moment." As soon as she was done speaking McGonagall disappeared from sight.

The first-years started talking again, and Harry noticed a thin, handsome boy with platinum blond hair approach him, trailed by the two largest youths in the room. "It's true then, what they were saying on the train. Harry Potter has returned to attend Hogwarts." Most of the conversations around them died out, and the other students all stared. "This is Crabbe and Goyle," he gestured to the muscular boys flanking him, "and I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy."

Harry heard Ron snicker, and Hermione whisper "what's funny?"

Draco's eyes burned as he glared past Harry's shoulder. "Does my name amuse you? No need to ask yours; red hair and a second-hand robe? You must be a Weasley." He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. Don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." Draco held out a hand to Harry.

Harry clasped the offered hand, seeing Ron stiffen out of the corner of his eye. "That's a generous offer," Harry said. "I've heard so much about your family. Lucius Malfoy is your father?"

"That's right." Draco looked delighted that Harry already knew about his family. "He's one of Hogwarts' governors."

"I see," Harry murmured. He really had heard about the Malfoy family before; Remus and Sirius had both told him tales. "Will you do me the courtesy of passing on my sympathies to your esteemed father, then?"

Draco looked puzzled. "Sympathy for what?"

"This week can't have been easy for him," Harry replied innocently, "seeing so many of his friends sent to Azkaban."

Harry's words were followed by a moment of dead silence. Malfoy snatched his hand back as though burned, his pale cheeks coloring in anger. Many of the students from wizarding families started snickering, and Ron laughed so hard he had to hold his ribs. Hermione and the other Muggle born merely looked confused at the byplay. Before Malfoy could offer a retort McGonagall loomed up behind him, tapping his shoulder with a folded paper. Draco withdrew with a burning glare at Harry.

"The hall is ready for you now," McGonagall announced to the assembled students. She turned and led them to the vast double doors, which swung open on their own to reveal the Great Hall of Hogwarts. Hundreds of candles drifted in the air above the long tables already crowded with older students, and the enchanted ceiling was invisible, showing the dazzling night sky above. Harry heard Hermione telling Ron and Neville what she'd read about the ceiling in one of their textbooks.

McGonagall arranged the first-years into an orderly line as Dumbledore rose to his feet and cleared his throat. "Before the Sorting, a few notices. First years, please be aware that the dark forest is off-limits to all students. Additionally, Mr. Filch has asked me to remind you that the third floor corridor in the north wing will be closed for renovation for the entirety of the term, and any student found past the barricades will risk injury, death and quite possibly detention." That elicited a laugh from some of the older students. "Thank you," Dumbledore concluded.

"When I call your name, take a seat," McGonagall instructed the first years as she lifted up a moving hat that had been resting on a tall stool. "I shall place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses. Hermione Granger."

Harry and Ron watched Hermione take a seat nervously, her eyes rolling up as the hat came to rest on her head. It muttered to itself for a moment, and then called out, "Okay, Gryffindor!"

The table full of students in red and gold cheered. Hermione hopped down, and was welcomed warmly to that table.

"Draco Malfoy," McGonagall called out.

Malfoy barely had time to sit down. The hat brushed his brow and immediately yelled, "Slytherin!" Malfoy didn't seem surprised, and made his way to a table of students in green and silver.

"Did you see the look on that git's face when you called his da a Death Eater? Brilliant!" Ron whispered to Harry with a grin.

"I said no such thing Ron," Harry protested mildly. "That would be slanderous. I only pointed out how tragic it is that his family's associates keep winding up in prison." McGonagall glared at the pair of them, and they quieted.

"Susan Bones."

"Hufflepuff!"

"Ronald Weasley."

"Another one? Well, let's keep the streak going: Gryffindor!"

Ron ran over to the Gryffindor table and sat down next to Hermione, being congratulated by three older boys who looked to be his brothers. The Sorting continued, and the crowd of first-years dwindled until Harry stood alone in the center of the hall.

"Harry Potter." Everyone was quiet as Harry sat down on the stool. As soon as the hat touched his brow, he felt magic like nothing he'd experienced before. It was old, wise and potent, but comfortable to the touch.

"Difficult… very difficult…" Harry could hear a dry whisper inside his skull even as the hat hemmed and hawed out loud. _You've got courage, intellect and thirst for power all in one; compassion too, under all that anger. So where do I put you?_

 _Gryffindor,_ Harry thought with certainty. His birth father and mother as well as godfather and uncle had all been in the same house. That was the one he wanted.

 _Are you certain? There are few paths to power surer than Slytherin. Your ruthless practicality and your need for revenge will be respected there, while the other houses will find those traits cause for suspicion and alarm._

 _Maybe, but I'd prefer not to bed down with the children of my enemies,_ Harry countered. _I wouldn't sleep easily in that house._

 _Fair enough, but why discount Ravenclaw?_ The hat asked. _In that house you'll be surrounded by witches and wizards just as clever as you. Ravenclaws love knowledge and strive relentlessly to improve themselves. You might even find answers to the questions you think have none, like the ones you have about your mother._

 _It's the love of investigation I'm wary of,_ Harry replied. _If you can see my secrets, you know why I keep them. I don't want to spend the next seven years surrounded by people driven to discover more about me._

The Sorting Hat's silence had stretched on long enough that Harry heard a few coughs and murmurs echo through the Great Hall. _All right,_ the hat conceded again. _What about Hufflepuff? Too many wizards dismiss that house as the dumping ground for 'all the rest', but nothing could be further from the truth. Did you know that of the four founders, Helga was the most feared by the agents of the dark? Brave Godric, ruthless Salazar and clever Rowena won their share of battles, but it was Helga the stalwart whose will never faltered even in the darkest hour. She stood between the wicked and the innocent, and her light flayed to the bone any who would harm her charges. In her house you'd become a hero of the light, greater than Dumbledore in time. Hufflepuff could make you the leader Britain needs in the dark times to come, and a shining example to the world._

Harry hesitated. As the hat spoke, he could see the future it described. He would be respected and admired. More important he would be _heard_ , even when he said things the Ministry didn't want people to hear. It was tempting, because Harry knew the hat was right. Voldemort was far from beaten, and Britain wasn't ready for a return to the times of fear and darkness Remus and Sirius had told him about.

Ultimately though, Harry remembered his mother's lessons and pushed away the shining image of the paragon the Sorting Hat believed he could be. _Heroes are respected and admired, but they're not always effective. I'm not ready to give up the freedom to do what's necessary just to claim adulation. Sometimes things need to be done in the shadows. Knives in the dark are just as vital as wands in the light._

The Sorting Hat laughed out loud, a rueful sound. "Gryffindor it is," the hat announced to the whole room, _and may you find what you need in Godric's house,_ the hat offered in silent benediction before McGonagall plucked it from Harry's brow.

Harry joined Hermione, Ron and Neville as the entire table chanted, "Potter, Potter," and he was swarmed with handshakes, congratulations and claps on the shoulder.

As soon as Harry settled down Dumbledore spoke again. "Let the feast… begin." Countless platters and bowls heaped with delicious-looking food appeared before hundreds of hungry children and young adults. The good-natured roar of conversation ebbed and flowed as the serious business of dinner was attended to.


	21. War Zone

Chapter Nineteen: War Zone

* * *

"Dear God, what are you wearing?"

Sakura Haruno jumped a bit at the harsh words from directly behind her. Whirling, she saw a tall, almost cadaverously slender woman with close-cropped black hair studying her.

"Please tell me you've got clothes in that pack that aren't dyed a bright primary color," the stranger continued. She looked to be in her forties by Sakura's estimate, with a no-nonsense air about her.

"Umm… pardon me?" Sakura stammered. A quick glance around the train platform showed her that everyone else in eyesight was decked out in far more muted hues than the red dress she was wearing. The woman interrogating her was wrapped in a hooded beige cloak.

"Your clothes; they make you stand out like a big neon sign. Although I guess that abysmal dye job on your hair is accomplishing the same thing. Did you. Bring clothes. That are not brightly colored?" The last was said slowly, in the tone one would use with someone recently concussed or mentally impaired.

Sakura still wasn't sure why she was being questioned about her choice in outfit and didn't like being talked down to, but the tall woman was glowering now, and she felt a bit intimidated. "Umm… not really? And my hair isn't-"

"Great. Just bleeding terrific," the stranger cut her off. "I specifically told the Medical Corps that I need two chuunin capable of finding their own asses, _at minimum._ What do I get? One genin who thinks she's on vacation."

Sakura's heart sank. "Oh," she murmured weakly. "You're Doctor Shibaya?"

"Damn right I am." Misa Shibaya twitched her cloak open, letting Sakura see a set of light armor in Konoha green that was adorned with a white stripe along the arms and legs, the mark of a medical ninja in the field. She didn't wear a hitai-ate, but the metal plates shielding her knees had Konoha's symbol engraved on them.

Eyeing Sakura's clothes again, Misa let out a sigh of disgust. "Dressed like that you'll get sniped before we're halfway to base camp Gamma. Stay right there." Misa abruptly stalked down the platform toward the cargo car, still muttering under her breath. Sakura couldn't hear most of it before Misa moved out of earshot, but she caught "…pink hair! Honestly!"

Sakura's cheeks turned almost the same hue as her hair. She could tell that she wasn't making a very good first impression on her new sensei, but she wasn't quite sure why. She hadn't exactly picked her hair color, and why did it matter what shade her clothes were if she was going to be working in a hospital?

Naruto and his new team – who had wound up on the same train as Sakura – emerged from their car and headed out along with the rest of the shinobi reinforcements, heading for the north end of the valley. Sakura gave Naruto a quick wave and got one in return before he left.

Misa returned from the supply car a few minutes later with a light gray cloak of undyed wool over her arm. She settled it around Sakura's shoulders and pulled the hood up over her bubblegum locks. "Good enough," she muttered.

"Ah… what did you mean by 'sniped'?" Sakura asked. "Aren't we on our side of the border?"

Misa snorted. She jabbed a finger at the rocky hills on either side of the narrow valley where the last train station before the border was located. "This is a war zone. There are Kumo spotters crawling through the scrub up there. They spy on us just like we spy on them, and when they see an easy target to hit at a distance – like a little girl in a red dress – you'd better believe they'll strike." The more Misa talked, the more alarmed Sakura was becoming. She tugged her new cloak tighter around herself, making sure it covered everything.

"Now keep quiet and keep up," Misa said. "We need to reach base camp Gamma before sunset; falling asleep in the open out here is a really good way to not wake up."

Sakura trotted after Misa, and they left the platform behind. The other shinobi who had been on the train were in a column ahead of them, but Naruto and everyone else were headed straight north while Misa led Sakura north and west toward a narrow cleft in the hills. _Wait, where are they going?_ Sakura opened her mouth, but remembered Misa's admonition to remain silent and decided against asking.

A few minutes later a blinding flash of light connected the heavens and the earth further up the valley, and Sakura flinched at the roar of thunder. Misa grabbed her shoulder and shoved her down into a shallow depression in the ground, joining her there a moment later.

"Wha-" Sakura blurted out, only to find a surprisingly strong hand clapped over her mouth.

"Shut up and don't move," Misa whispered in her ear. "Want to know what getting sniped by a Cloud ninja looks like? Watch."

Jade eyes wide, Sakura followed Misa's gaze to the column of shinobi they'd parted from. They were scattering in all directions, some looking dazed and bleeding from the ears. Sakura could see smoke rising from a blackened body on the road. There was another flash, and a spear of lightning impaled one of the fleeing Leaf ninja. The thunder smacked into Sakura a split-second later, rattling her bones.

Hardly daring to breathe, Sakura watched her comrades scatter and seek cover, abandoning the road and the smoking corpses. She was relieved to see a short blonde form among those still alive. "That's a favorite trick of Cloud jounin," Misa whispered. "Good news is they can only do it a few times before they get tired; that takes a lot of chakra."

The shifting wind brought the scent of burnt meat wafting into their shelter, and Sakura's stomach heaved. Misa's hand vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and Sakura puked up her last meal. "Never seen someone die before, I take it?" Misa asked. Sakura shook her head and heard her new sensei mutter, "Green as grass, I swear. Well, we'll give it a few more minutes and then it should be safe to leave," Misa told her.

"Leave? We're not going to help?" Sakura asked after wiping her lips. "Some of them were wounded by the shock wave."

"Saw that, did you?" Misa murmured. "Well, you're not completely unobservant. The main force has its own medics, and if we rejoin the column we'll be stuck with them. We're needed at base camp Gamma, which is not where they're headed." When the valley had been quiet for a few minutes, Misa rose to her feet. "C'mon, daylight's wasting; let's move." Sakura spared one look back toward their comrades before following dutifully in her sensei's wake.

Once they were through the pass and into the scrub forest beyond Misa visibly relaxed a bit. "Something to keep in mind out here, kid," she said to Sakura, "short lines of sight will keep you alive. Now what on earth did you dye your hair with? We might have something at camp that'll wash it out."

"Umm… this is my natural hair color, sensei," Sakura replied quietly.

Misa stopped, turned around and stared at her. "It's your… of course it is," she growled. "Well, that's easier to fix."

Sakura winced as she shook her head. "Dyes don't take, even the really strong ones," she informed Misa apologetically. "My dad's the same way. Believe me, I've tried everything."

"You're joking…" Misa trailed off at the embarrassed expression on Sakura's face. "You're not joking. Well can it be cut, or do you just possess the weirdest bloodline in Konoha?"

"Yes, it can be cut, sensei." _But Sasuke likes girls with long hair…_

"Good. Once we're settled you can get it cut short and we'll find a bandana to cover that 'kill me please' sign growing out of your head whenever we're out in the field."

Misa started moving again, and Sakura ran to keep up. "'Out in the field'?" she asked.

"Yeah," Misa replied with a crooked grin. "What, you thought we'd be sitting in a nice, safe hospital for the whole tour?"

"Umm… yes?"

"Well, tough luck. Our forces are spread out over hundreds of square kilometers of rough, inaccessible terrain. The units closer to base camp Gamma can send their wounded to us, but the outposts further out can't. When they get hit hard we go to them. When the Kumo dogs mobilize in force and there's an actual battle we'll be there, too, picking up the pieces. Sometimes literally."

Sakura decided that this apprenticeship sounded a lot more dangerous than it had back in Konoha. It didn't seem wise to comment on that, however, so she kept her peace and focused on keeping up with her sensei, who was running pretty fast for a doctor and didn't seem to be tiring at all.

* * *

The first lightning strike hit the center of the column while Naruto and Team Nine were at the rear, but the shockwave was powerful enough to knock him on his ass, and when he climbed to his feet, his ears were ringing. He couldn't hear for a moment, but he saw Genma, Neji and Lee running, so he followed them. When the second bolt of lightning fell it was on someone moving in a different direction, so the hit only buffeted Naruto.

"Neji, where are they?" Genma shouted as they ran.

"Byakugan," Neji mouthed, the veins around his eyes bulging. "Four at your ten o'clock, thirty-seven degree elevation, eight hundred and forty-two meters!"

That was when Naruto felt the hairs in his arms rise, and saw sparks jumping between them. _Oh fu-_ was all he had time to think. With a crack of displaced air, Genma appeared at Naruto's side, raising one hand high into the air while the other slammed down on Naruto's shoulder, sending him sprawling in the dirt. Even face-first on the ground the flash of light and roar of thunder made his world go white for a moment, but the expected pain never came.

When Naruto rolled over he stared wide-eyed at Genma, who held a crackling lightning bolt _in his hand_. Neji and Lee were gaping too, making Naruto feel slightly better. Genma took two steps and then hurled the captured jutsu like a javelin into the hills ahead of them. An explosion enveloped a section of scrub brush when it landed.

"Fuckers always like to think they're the only ones who know how to play with lightning," Genma commented, dusting off his hands. "Did I get them?"

It took a moment for Neji to pick his jaw up off of the ground, but he nodded. "Ah… there are two down, including the one who was calling down the lightning. The other two are still breathing."

"Okay. Neji, take Naruto with you and go finish the job," Genma replied as he hauled Naruto to his feet.

"Understood," Neji murmured, beckoning to Naruto. Naruto dusted himself off and then followed Neji, who was quickly making his way up a rocky path toward the spot on the hill above them where Genma had struck.

"What did sensei mean by 'finish the job'?" Naruto asked quietly, catching a branch Neji had displaced before it could hit him in the face.

"Pretty much what it sounded like," Neji replied over his shoulder. "Ah, here we go."

Naruto smelled the hiding place of the hidden attackers before he saw it. His nose twitched at the smell of cooked meat, and bile rose in his throat a bit once he reached Neji's side. They stood on the lip of a small crater. Flames flickered in the brush around it, and over the burnt remains of two bodies. The one in the center of the crater was adult-sized and little more than a carbonized skeleton. The second body had been thrown just out of the crater, and was still on fire. Just beyond that two more Cloud ninja were sprawled on the ground, knocked senseless by the shockwave from the blast.

Naruto stared for a moment. "They're… our age," he said in surprise. The survivors were a boy and a girl with dusky skin and dark, curly hair cropped short. They wore white torso and thigh armor over pale cloth tunics and trousers. Both had swords sheathed at their hips as well as tooled leather pouches for kunai and shuriken.

"Of course," Neji replied calmly as he picked his way through the smoldering brush towards them. "Kumo's using genin teams as scouting parties just like Konoha is. Their sensei got a little more ambitious than was healthy for them, is all," he pointed absently at the skeleton in the crater.

"Oh," Naruto murmured. "Hey, what are you doing?"

Neji knelt next to the male Cloud genin. The boy stirred with a groan. Neji's open hand descended, jabbing into the side of his neck. The Cloud genin shuddered and then went still, no longer breathing.

"Finishing the job; you get that one," Neji gestured to the unconscious kunoichi near Naruto's feet.

"You… you killed him!" Naruto's voice rose in disbelief.

"Yes, and now you're going to kill her. Get on with it, we don't have all day."

"But she's helpless," Naruto sputtered.

"Won't be if you wait for her wake up," Neji pointed out. "Then it gets harder."

"Aren't we supposed to, like, take prisoners or something?" Naruto demanded, stepping closer to Neji.

Neji sighed. "No, if Genma wanted a prisoner he would have asked for one. Genin don't know enough to be of much value, none of the ones in this group had a bloodline worth capturing, and it's not a good idea to leave scouts alive to slip across the border and deliver their reports."

"This… this isn't right."

"What's not right is getting stabbed in the back while debating morality," Neji told Naruto, while plucking a kunai from the pouch of the boy he'd just killed and throwing it. The blade passed between Naruto's legs and he heard a meaty 'thunk' behind him followed by a pained grunt. Naruto turned to see the kunoichi who had been on the ground a few seconds earlier – now at his back with her sword in hand – fall to the dirt with the thrown blade buried to the hilt in her calf. Naruto reacted by reflex, kicking her wrist and sending the sword flying into the brush. The girl winced, but gripped her leg, trying to staunch the flow of blood.

"Now you have a simpler choice," Neji informed Naruto as he stood up and dusted off his knees. "You can be merciful and end her suffering… or we can just leave her here. She might be able to bandage that, but she won't be able to walk, much less run. The wolves that roam these hills at night will finish the job for you. It won't be nearly as quick or clean, though."

Studying the Cloud kunoichi, Naruto could see fear beneath the anger glittering in her dark eyes. She seemed to agree with Neji's assessment. Nonetheless, she scooted away from Naruto when he moved closer to her. "Stay away," she warned in a voice thick with an accent Naruto hadn't heard before.

"Relax, I'm-" when Naruto crouched over her, she drew a kunai and slashed at him. She wasn't nearly as fast as Haku, so Naruto had little trouble catching her wrist. She wasn't as strong as his big brother either, and he stripped the weapon from her grip with ease, reversing it in his own and resting the razor edge against her throat. She went very still, glaring but not resisting as he unhooked her weapon pouch from her belt and tossed it into the bushes after her sword.

"Hey, what're you- get off of me, asshole," the kunoichi spat at Naruto as he rolled her over, pulled her arms behind her back and started binding them.

"What are you doing?" Neji asked wearily.

"Just because sensei didn't specifically say to take prisoners doesn't mean I can't," Naruto replied practically, dropping a knee on the wiggling, cursing girl's legs once her hands were bound. He applied a tourniquet above her leg wound and then bound her ankles as well.

Neji gazed at the sky. "Not another one…" he complained to an uncaring deity. "Lee's idealism is bad enough." He gave Naruto a direct look. "You understand what we've been trained to do, right? That our job usually involves killing people for money?"

Naruto nodded, inspecting his prisoner and making sure she couldn't do much but squirm and glare at him. "I know, and when we're in the middle of an actual fight I'll do what needs to be done."

Neji sighed. "Fine; but if you're determined to take that little wildcat prisoner you should probably relieve her of the knife she's got hidden in her bra before she stabs you with it."

Naruto blinked. "You're kidding."

"Nope," Neji replied, pointing to a spot just below the left breast of the girl who was now glaring daggers at him. "Having a holdout like that is pretty smart, actually."

Naruto's cheeks turned red as he fished around under her armor and tunic for the concealed blade while the girl made a number of uncomplimentary speculations about his personal deviancy and the shortcomings of his ancestors. He tried not to think about the soft skin he was touching, and eventually located the folded butterfly knife, tossing it over his shoulder. The Cloud kunoichi was only getting warmed up with her tirade, but after she said a few uncomplimentary things about his mother, Naruto got tired of listening and tore the plate off of her hitai-ate before using the cloth strip to gag her. "You could show a little gratitude you know," he muttered as he slung the girl over his shoulder. "I'm trying to save your life here."

"Mmm-mmMph!" The muffled words didn't sound very thankful.

Neji laughed, and Naruto gave him a cross look. "What, you're taking her side now? C'mon, let's go."

The group of shinobi in the valley had already started moving while Naruto and Neji were in the hills, so it took them a little while to catch up. Neji didn't slow down much, and while the Cloud kunoichi had a slender build she was still a whole other person to carry. Nonetheless, Naruto gritted his teeth and kept pace.

Genma studied the pair neutrally as they approached. "Collecting souvenirs already, Naruto?"

"You didn't say not to," Naruto replied defensively.

Genma shrugged. "No, but you might wish I had before we get to base camp. Doesn't look like your new friend can walk with that leg wound, so you get to carry her, and we're not slowing down. Beyond that, she's your responsibility if you want to keep her."

"Works for me," Naruto replied.

"All right," Genma said. He waved to the group's medic, who had finished treating friendlies injured by the shockwaves from the lightning strikes.

The medic looked at Naruto's captive dubiously, but gestured for her to be set down. She tore away the leg of the girl's pants, extracted the kunai, sterilized the wound with alcohol and then stitched it shut before wrapping it in a bandage.

Naruto took advantage of the down time to cut the straps of her armor and toss it aside to lighten the load he was going to have to carry. He rifled through her pack, transferred the rations and water to his own, and then discarded it with the armor. The girl glared at him through the process, but remained silent.

"She puts any weight on that in the next three days and it'll tear open," the medic warned. "Make her some crutches, or carry her."

"Understood," Naruto murmured. "Thanks."

The group set off, and true to Genma's word they didn't slow down for Naruto and his new burden. He could still keep up, but it was tiring. When the sun dipped toward the western hills, Naruto was feeling exhausted. He got the sense from Neji and Genma that no one would particularly care if he changed his mind and ditched his prisoner, but he was stubborn enough to stay the course. The Cloud kunoichi at least seemed to get that Naruto was the only person who cared if she lived, and held still to make a slightly easier burden.

Rock Lee fell back to jog beside Naruto. "It's a chivalrous and youthful thing you did, Naruto," he observed brightly.

"Not feeling particularly youthful at the moment Lee," Naruto grimaced, "but thanks."

"We'll be making camp in a few hours," Lee continued. "Would you like me to carry her until we stop for the night?"

Naruto shook his head. "Sensei made pretty clear this is my burden to bear."

"Mmph…" the kunoichi protested.

"Hey, I'm not saying you're heavy, but… okay yeah, you're getting pretty heavy."

Lee, who could see the murderous expression on the girl's face, laughed. "Our instructor meant to discourage you from burdening others with the task you have chosen. I am volunteering, however. Sensei cannot find fault with that."

Naruto thought about it, and his burning muscles cast the deciding vote. "Okay, thanks Lee," he said, handing over the Cloud kunoichi to his teammate.

"Think nothing of it," Lee replied with a grin. "Now, shall we see who reaches the camp site first?" Lee raced off ahead – passenger and all – leaving Naruto blinking in his wake. "Hey!" he called out before pursuing.


	22. Quidditch!

Chapter Twenty: Quidditch!

* * *

"Accio Rememberall."

Harry tried not to enjoy the outraged look on Draco Malfoy's face as the crystal ball tore itself from his hand and flew into Harry's grasp. He casually handed it back to Neville, nodding at his fellow Gryffindor's mumbled thanks.

"What's the matter, Potter? Are you afraid to come up here?" Draco sneered from atop his broomstick after recovering from the surprise of how quickly Harry had relieved him of the stolen trinket.

"No, just not stupid enough to break the rule that was outlined literally thirty seconds ago," Harry replied in a bored tome. "I know you Slytherins like to think everyone outside of your house is a moron, but seriously Draco you've got to try harder than this. Stay up there as long as you want, but Madam Hooch will be back eventually."

That earned snickers from most of the non-Slytherins at the flying lesson, and one thing Harry had learned very quickly was that – while quite eager to insult others – Draco Malfoy hated to be made the fool himself. Not that it was proving terribly hard. Harry wondered how much of Draco's transparency had to do with years of observing bullies in Muggle school, and how much had to do with his mother's exhaustive lessons in recognizing his own emotional reactions.

Harry had certainly been tempted to show Draco that he was better with a broom, but his mother's voice had sprung from his memories. _The most effective action and the most satisfying aren't always the same thing, Harry. What you must remember is that effective fighters live longer than satisfied ones._ The objective wasn't to slap Malfoy down, but to retrieve Neville's stolen property before it was damaged.

Draco had obviously been given basic lessons in spell-casting at home – like most of the pureblooded students – but he still thought in terms of physicality almost as much as his glowering henchmen Crabbe and Goyle. In his moment of fun mocking Neville it hadn't occurred to him that he was taunting fellow students of magic, who might choose to use magic to respond to his actions.

Without the pilfered bauble Draco lacked the means to lure any other students into the air in Madam Hooch's absence – costing other houses points was likely one reason he'd started the whole thing – and he sullenly descended to the ground. The flying instructor returned a moment later, and the lesson began, for those who didn't already know how to fly. Harry tried not to look bored, even though Sirius had been a much better teacher.

* * *

"This is awesome!" Ron exclaimed as he sat with Harry and Hermione in the stands of the Hogwarts quidditch pitch, watching the Gryffindor team tryouts.

"This is pointless," Hermione countered, looking up from the book and parchment on her lap, her quill pausing in its busy scratching. "Ronald, you _do_ remember we have a potions essay due soon?"

Ron scoffed. "Quidditch is way more important than potions, Hermione. Honestly, sometimes I worry about your priorities! Woo!" Ron cheered loudly as his older brothers zipped past. Fred and George were the team's beaters, and at the moment they were flying formation around Angelina, one of the team's chasers. The practice bludgers had been enchanted to seek out the quaffle she was carrying unerringly, giving the Weasley twins plenty of work keeping them away from her.

Harry's attention was directed toward the far end of the pitch, where Oliver Wood, the team captain, was holding tryouts for the position of Seeker, which had been vacated by a departing seventh-year. Half a dozen eager Gryffindors were chasing a tiny winged golden mote through the air, and in an hour none of them had come close to grabbing it.

Seeker was the last tryout of the day, and the only one that was still up in the air. Wood had required every player from the previous year's team – including himself – to defend their spots against all applicants, but they'd all done so easily.

Ron followed Harry's gaze and winced. "Not going well, is it?"

"That's an understatement," Harry murmured, looking at Wood's face and the growing frustration etched on it. "The first game's in, what, a few weeks? I don't think any of them could catch that snitch if they had all the time between now and then to try."

Ron sighed as one of the prospective Seekers attempted an overly ambitious inverted dive, fell off of her broom, and had to be caught via leviosa charm by Wood before she hit the ground. "Yeah… somehow, I don't think Gryffindor's going to be a contender for this year's finals."

Harry nodded in agreement. Within a few minutes the snitch had not only remained free but broken line of sight enough times that the prospective Seekers had all lost track of it. "Come on," he murmured as he watched one pale-haired fourth-year boy who was the best of the lot hovering high above the pitch and looking around. "It's right here."

Ron looked at Harry, surprised. "You can still see it?"

Harry nodded absently. "The snitch is hiding under the balcony on the referee's tower. He'll never spot it from up there."

Ron squinted at the tower and caught the glint of gold after a moment. "Bloody hell mate, why do you wear glasses if your eyes are that sharp?"

Harry sighed in frustration at the aimless Seekers above, who were being yelled at by Wood now to 'find the bloody thing'. "It's not about eyesight Ron, it's about understanding the game. Seekers aren't supposed to stop moving when they lose sight of their objective, because if they do the snitch will often stop moving too. Plus, you know, bludgers love stationary targets. Wood may not be using them for the try-outs, but still."

"The spell that animates the Golden Snitch is based off of the behaviors of the bird that inspired its creation," Hermione piped up, looking away from her Potions essay. Her cheeks colored a bit at the surprised looks on Harry and Ron's faces. "Well, according to _Pavel's History of Quidditch_ anyways."

"You read a book about quidditch?" Ron asked. "I thought you didn't care about sports!"

Harry clapped a hand on Ron's shoulder and grinned at Hermione. "Hermione reads books about everything," he replied. "How do you think she got so smart?" That compliment made Hermione turn even redder.

"But seriously Harry, you should try out for Seeker if you know that much about the position," Ron said. "You've got to be better than any of this lot." Wood had started sending some of the poorer performers off of the pitch to join the girl who had fallen off of her broom.

Harry shrugged. "Didn't you hear the general announcement of the team tryouts, Ron? First-years can't play."

A strong hand landed on Harry's left shoulder. "Well yes, but that's more of a guideline-"

An identical hand struck the other shoulder, "-than a hard and fast rule. Plus, things are looking grim."

Harry looked up in surprise to see that Fred and George had finished their practice and come up into the stands. "Can you actually fly, Potter, or are you just a knowledgeable fan of the game?" George inquired seriously.

"I've had a few lessons," Harry murmured. "But I don't know if-"

"Good enough," Fred interrupted him. "Oy, Wood!" Harry, Ron and Hermione winced at the volume of the bellow. Across the pitch, Oliver Wood turned around. "We've got a late entry for the Seeker try-out here!"

"I don't know if-" Harry protested.

"Sure you do! Go for it, mate!" Ron cheered as Fred and George dragged Harry onto the field.

 _Well crap._ Harry didn't particularly want to show the whole school that he could fly and fly well, but neither did he want to look like an idiot in front of his fellow Gryffindors.

Wood recalled the snitch and gathered the other prospective Seekers, who were understandably annoyed at more competition. "Hey, he didn't sign up," the fourth-year Harry had been watching complained. "Besides, firsties can't play!"

"Oh shut it, Bernstein," George replied with a grin. "If you'd caught the snitch, we wouldn't have to widen the search."

"It does seem a little unfair to add someone who's fresh when we're all tired," a third-year girl who looked to have Indian parents pointed out quietly.

Wood shrugged. "You've all had an hour. I'm willing to give Potter a few minutes." He studied Harry seriously. "You actually think you can catch a Snitch? It's a lot harder than just keeping an eye on it."

Harry was annoyed enough at the animosity of the failures trying out for the position his father had held that he scowled and nodded, snatching up a broom. "Let it go."

"Fair enough; all right, one of you lot had better bloody catch the snitch this time!" Wood roared. He opened his hand, and the snitch shot straight up into the air, its blurring wings clawing for altitude.

All the older Gryffindors were already mounted on their brooms and pushed off of the ground, getting the standard vertical lift that a standard broom was capable of. Harry kept a sneer off of his face with effort. _Even if you have to win, you don't have to add insult to injury. An opponent today might be an ally tomorrow, but not if he still resents you._

Harry had lifted his broom vertically, and he didn't change that configuration. Instead, he put one foot on top of the bound rushes and silently commanded the broom: _up_. Harry instantly shot past the other riders, since most of a broom's acceleration came along the line of the shaft. From there he only had to lean back a bit to change direction and bring himself close enough to the frantically climbing snitch. His free hand closed around the golden marble, and it went still in his grasp.

That left him inverted and holding onto the broom with a single hand, but Harry's mother had made him work on his upper body strength until he could do a pull-up one-handed. Keeping his grip as he drifted back to the ground was fairly simple. The people around him were utterly silent as he alighted and returned the snitch to Wood.

"That's cheating," Bernstein exploded angrily when the moment passed. "He didn't let it move away; he didn't even get on the broom properly!"

"No one said anything about a grace period," Harry replied mildly, "and does it matter how I used the broom? I didn't fall off of it."

"Correct on both counts, Potter," Oliver Wood said with a faint smile. "Who taught you to do an inverted arc jump? You usually don't see a Seeker trying that outside of the professional leagues, much less succeeding."

Harry shrugged. "Just my family." He wanted to say 'my godfather' because it was true, but everyone back home had agreed it was best if he didn't explicitly mention Sirius, ever.

"Then they taught you well. The position of Seeker is yours, Potter," Wood declared, before turning a glare on the protesting wash-outs. "You all had an hour! Potter caught the snitch in three seconds! Bernstein, second-string Seeker is yours if you want it. The rest of you, better luck next year."

Bernstein grumbled and glared at Harry, but accepted the back-up Seeker position before departing the pitch. "Potter, do you have your own broom?" Wood asked as he started packing up the quidditch balls and gear with Fred and George's help.

"No," Harry replied with a shake of his head, "but when I send my guardian an owl to let him know I'm on the team, I'm fairly certain he'll let me order one."

"Go ahead, if you can afford it," Wood said with a nod. "The school brooms are kept in good shape, but they're not the newest ones around. I'll ask Professor McGonagall to put in the form for a dispensation; first-years aren't normally allowed to have personal brooms on school grounds. First team practice begins at the first bell after dinner Tuesday night. Eat a light meal, dress warmly and don't be late."

"Understood, Captain Wood," Harry murmured. "Thank you for the opportunity."

"Oh, don't thank me yet, Potter," Wood warned. "You'll be working to keep what you've won, same as everyone else."

"Got it," Harry replied immediately. "I will endeavor not to disappoint."

"Good attitude. See you Tuesday, Potter," Wood said before lifting the wooden chest of gear onto his shoulder, an impressive display of strength from the fifth-year Keeper. Fred and George gathered the brooms and followed him to the equipment shed.

When Harry made it back to the stands he saw that Hermione had managed to badger Ron into starting on his Potions essay, but Ron abandoned his parchment to clap Harry on the shoulder. "That was incredible, Harry!" he exclaimed. "'A few lessons' my foot; why didn't you fly like that earlier?"

Harry shrugged. "I didn't see a need to show off that I could, Ron. But now I guess Gryffindor has need."

"Damn right it does," Ron agreed. "What was Wood saying at the end?"

"That he'd get McGonagall to put in a request for me to have a personal broom," Harry replied, "which reminds me, I need to write to Remus and make sure he's okay with it; they'll probably want him to sign off on it too, and I'll need his permission to actually buy a broom."

Ron grinned. "That's amazing, mate. I have a catalog up in our room, you should take a look."

Harry nodded. "Sounds like a plan." One of the things he liked about Ron was that the other boy really didn't seem to resent his inherited wealth that let him do things like buy a new broom to join the sports team.

 _"After_ you two finish your essays," Hermione reminded them, and this time Harry groaned along with Ron. "If you expect me to proofread them, you need to finish them early; tonight."

Harry nodded glumly, and Ron followed suit after a moment. Harry reminded himself that grades did matter, and Hermione was under no obligation to help them with their work. The fact that she chose to do so was a gift, and one not to be looked down upon. Since the weather was nice and the quidditch pitch stands were quiet, Harry opened his book bag and got started on his essay right there, and Ron returned to work as well.


	23. Triage

Chapter Twenty-One: Triage

* * *

Like most girls, Sakura Haruno had once been of the opinion that lambs and other baby animals were cute. Since arriving at base camp Gamma in the borderlands of the Land of Fire she'd been forced to kill that part of herself for the sake of her own sanity. The lamb in front of Sakura as she knelt outside of the camp butcher's tent was not happy. It bleated and squirmed, but it couldn't move much because its feet were tied together. "I'm sorry about this, little lamb," Sakura whispered.

"Don't talk to it, Sakura," Misa Shibaya muttered. "Just get to work." Her arm moved, and a kunai appeared in her hand. She used it to open a long gash in the lamb's wooly flank. Dark red blood welled up from the wound immediately, and the lamb's vocalizations became pained.

Sakura placed her hands near the wound, closed her eyes, and focused. She molded her chakra into forms infinitely more complicated than the elementary ninjutsu she had mastered at the Academy. Wreathing one's hands in the glowing green light that was the hallmark of the most basic healing jutsu was a lot harder than medics made it look. Sakura had gotten the hang of it in the last few months though, and when she opened her eyes, the healing light formed a halo around the lamb's wound. Slowly, the long gash closed itself. When Sakura leaned back, the lamb's coat was damp and sticky with blood around the site, but the bleeding was stopped and its skin had closed up.

"Good," Misa said approvingly. "You're getting faster."

"Thank you, sensei," Sakura murmured.

"Now try this one." Misa's kunai struck at one of the lamb's knees this time, slicing through muscle and connective tissue. This wound was smaller and bled a bit less, but the damage under the skin was worse. Sakura moved her hands, maintaining the basic regenerative glow, and adding on top of it a diagnostic jutsu that consumed far less chakra, but required more concentration. Using both techniques at once was necessary to repair the more complex structures in the body. Sakura started sweating from the strain to her chakra network and mind, but she carefully coaxed the severed muscle and tendons to reach out and grow back together. When she was done, Sakura was panting and tired, and the glow around her hands faded as she let them fall to her sides.

Studying the distressed lamb Sakura's nose wrinkled at the scent of its voided bowels, but bad smells from bodies were something else she'd gotten used to. Of more concern to her was the fact that the lamb was moving the leg she'd healed far more stiffly than the others. "That doesn't look right," Sakura said aloud. Her sensei was more forgiving of mistakes that she caught herself.

Misa nodded, gripping Sakura's hand and guiding it to the front of the lamb's knee. The damage had been to the back, but Sakura could feel something different about the bone she was touching.

"My strike only nicked the bone; the damage didn't need to be healed," Misa explained. "But you let the regenerative chakra touch that nick, which caused bone spurs to grow. Your focus needs to be more precise. Even tiny amounts of regenerative chakra incorrectly applied can create tumors that will kill your patient as surely as the wound you're treating them for."

"I understand sensei."

"Good. Now let's see you fix some minor organ damage." Misa stabbed the lamb this time, eliciting a scream from the tiny animal as the tip of her blade pierced its liver.

Sakura suppressed a groan. She was tired already, but her sensei wouldn't be satisfied until she was actually out of chakra. "Mild exhaustion, properly managed, is the best way to grow chakra reserves quickly, and yours are pathetic," Misa had informed Sakura after waking up the first time she'd fainted practicing medical ninjutsu.

Most of Shibaya-sensei's lessons were hard, Sakura had quickly discovered. For instance, she couldn't actually save the sheep and goats she was practicing on; they were in the butcher's yard, and once practice was over the animals were going to become the camp's next meal.

Sakura had mostly fixed the damage to the lamb's liver – and was pretty much spent chakra-wise – when the lamb's last breath shuddered in its throat and it died. She'd cried the first time, when a kid goat died in front of her while she tried to stop its bleeding. Now she just sat back and stared, not feeling much at all. "Did I do something wrong?"

Misa shook her head. "Not really. Buffering a patient from going into shock is an advanced technique; I don't expect you to be able to do it yet. Once your chakra reserves grow a bit more we'll start using adult animals; they can take more before their bodies shut down." She examined the stab wound, her fingers shimmering with a diagnostic jutsu of her own. "Good work on the liver, actually. No abnormal growth. I'd say you've earned a rest until this evening."

Misa then laid a hand on the dead animal, and a reddish light spread from her hand to envelop its whole body. When she lifted her hand, blood poured from the puncture in its abdomen, forming a globe that didn't stop growing until the lamb's body was fully exsanguinated. Sakura watched, impressed despite having seen it before. Her sensei was not only preparing the carcass for the butcher but in the process removing all of the stress cortisol from the meat that would have otherwise fouled its taste, since the animal had died slowly and in pain. This was something not even the other senior medics in the camp could do, and Misa was evasive when Sakura asked about when she would learn to do it.

Sakura was looking forward to finding a cot to curl up on and crash for a while as she followed her sensei back to the hospital when a messenger ran up, puffing slightly. "Doctor Shibaya," he gasped, "Burnt Ridge Outpost had repelled an attack in force. They report multiple casualties with severe injuries."

Misa nodded. "Understood; let them know help is on the way." She took a small metal box from the pouch at her hip, removed a black pill from it and tossed it to Sakura, who caught it in her hand. "Sorry, going to have to cancel that nap. Take that and grab your gear, we're headed out."

Sakura swallowed the pill dry with a grimace. It tasted bitter and foul, but by the time she made it to her tent and grabbed her travel pack, she could feel her chakra levels rising rapidly and her fatigue sloughing away; Misa's 'soldier supplements' made standard over-the-counter food pills look like sugar tablets in comparison. They were so effective that she'd apparently been sued by the Akimichi Clan a few years ago, accused of stealing proprietary secrets from the gourmand ninja family. The Hokage had dismissed the charges, citing insufficient evidence that the work was not Misa's own. Still, Sakura had noted a few of Choji's bulky relatives giving Misa dire looks when they crossed paths.

When Sakura returned to the hospital, Misa was ready to go and waiting for her. More ominously, they weren't travelling alone; half a dozen chuunin were apparently going along as escorts and reinforcements. They wasted no time leaving base camp Gamma, heading north and east toward Burnt Ridge, which Sakura recalled from studying maps of the war zone to be one of the most remote outposts Konoha controlled, right up against the territory Kumo controlled in the eastern hills.

Sakura had accompanied her sensei into the field four times in the last three months, three times to other outposts and once to a field clinic set up after a battle, but those trips had all been to areas further back from the contested line of control. This time, it seemed they were headed right into the lion's den.

* * *

"My sister's going to come for me, you know. Then you'll be sorry."

Naruto looked up from the report he was writing and glanced through the barred cell door at Kivi, the Cloud genin he'd captured. He visited her in the stockade of the forward base camp whenever he got back from patrols with Team Nine. The place seemed pretty boring, and Genma had said she was his responsibility, so he wanted to make sure she was being treated okay.

"Is your sister strong?" Naruto asked curiously. Kivi wasn't much of a talker, he'd discovered. Half of his visits had passed in complete silence, so hearing her actually speak was a novelty.

"Strong enough to kick your ass blondie," Kivi growled.

"Okay," Naruto shrugged. "Plenty of people can make that claim. I'm just a genin, after all."

Kivi's dark eyes narrowed, and she leaned forward on her cot. "Don't you have any pride as a shinobi?"

"Sure, but I also have a big brother. I don't know how big sisters work, but Haku's never let me get a swelled head." Naruto absently rubbed his scalp, almost feeling phantom knuckles digging in.

"About the same," Kivi allowed after a moment of silence.

"Well if your sister's strong, then I'm sure she'll find a way to get you back safe. Then maybe your village will stop trying to invade and we can all go home." Even as he said it, Naruto remained a bit dubious on that front. He'd learned a lot about sneaking in the last few months, crossing the border with his new team to scout Kumo's positions, and what they'd seen wasn't encouraging. The Cloud village was bringing in more supplies and personnel, and Genma seemed grimly certain they were preparing for a major push.

Konoha for its part wasn't committing significantly more shinobi yet, because theirs was a defensive posture. The jounin commanders' orders from the Hokage were simply to hold the line, so Konoha's efforts were mostly focused on building up their fortifications and gathering intelligence to predict where the hammer would fall before it did.

Kivi snorted. "'Invade'? Typical Leaf ninja bullshit."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What would you call the fight that's happening right now?"

"This right here I'd call a 'boring conversation', but in the wider sense? Sunset Valley and its wineries were part of the Land of Lightning since its formation. You Leaf ninja may have cheated and taken our land after the last war, but that doesn't make it yours. The Raikage is going to take it back, and it's not an invasion when you're reclaiming your own territory."

"All of that happened long before either of us was born," Naruto replied skeptically. "You can debate the right or wrong of the last war, but the people who live south of here consider themselves subjects of the Fire daimio. They want us 'cheating' Leaf ninja here; they cheer and throw flowers at us when we visit on leave. You think they'd welcome your army marching in and taking over?"

Kivi shrugged. "Doesn't matter; Kumo will reclaim what belongs to Lightning."

Naruto's eyes narrowed, irritated by her indifference. "So you think what your team died for was worthwhile?"

Kivi flinched, and Naruto saw a moment of naked pain in her eyes before her face closed down. "Go to hell," she growled before resolutely turning away from him.

Naruto regretted his words instantly. He knew Kivi carried a lot of guilt over surviving the failed ambush that had claimed the lives of her teacher and teammates. "Kivi… I'm sorry." She didn't speak or look at him again, and once Naruto was done with his report, he departed the stockade.

* * *

Haku was woken from a sound sleep by an unusual humming noise in the house. His dark eyes snapped open and he rolled out of bed, instantly alert for threats. Seeing and sensing none, he went looking for the source of the sound that had woken him.

Haku traced the humming to Lily's bedroom, which remained empty, as though awaiting her return. More specifically, the sound was coming from the locked drawer in her desk that held the things she'd worked on over the years with the strange power she called 'magic'. Haku had the only key to that drawer, and he opened it carefully, fully aware that he did not understand or possess the ability to use most of the things his adoptive mother had created.

The humming was coming from the box that held the engraved bracelet Lily had created years earlier. Haku carefully opened the box, and noted with some surprise that the outer band of engravings – the ones in a dead language that had come from his mother's world of birth – were glowing ever so faintly. Haku doubted it would be visible in daylight, but in the dark a weak violet halo was visible around each rune. The bracelet itself was vibrating slightly, producing the humming sound.

Haku carefully touched one finger to the metal band. As he'd expected, the fuuinjutsu seals on the inner band greedily drank some of his chakra and started to glow as well, a pale yellow-orange. What was unexpected was what Haku heard: a shockingly loud scream of pure rage accompanied by the sick, meaty impacts of a fist striking a body, over and over.

Haku drew his hand back, shaken. The noises faded along with the light outlining the fuuinjutsu seals. A few seconds later, the glow around the runes faded as well, and the bracelet stopped humming. Haku studied it warily for several minutes, but the silver band remained quiet and inert.

Exhaling a sigh of relief, Haku closed the box. He wished fervently that mother was there to tell him what had just happened. He knew why Lily built the bracelet: she had wanted to find a means of contacting Naruto's birth mother in the other world, the woman who was taking care of her son. But none of the experiments had succeeded, and Haku had extracted from her a promise to abandon them after the last test came close to killing her.

"Why did it become active now?" Haku wondered aloud. "And who did it connect to?" There hadn't been any words, but the voice he'd heard screaming did not belong to a woman.

As he put the box away and locked the desk drawer again, Haku came to a decision. Naruto was old enough now to be told the things about their mother that he didn't know, the things that Lily would have told him had she not been abducted. "When Naruto comes home from his assignment, I'll show him these things and tell him about our mother's first life. He should know we have a brother living in the other world, being raised by his birth mother."


	24. Trauma

Chapter Twenty-Two: Trauma

* * *

Christmas wreathes hung in the air amid the candles in Hogwarts' Great Hall, and the ceiling showed the gray clouds above, white flakes of snow drifting from their sodden bulk. Harry and Hermione were eating their breakfast, while across the table Ron _inhaled_ his.

Harry received the occasional clap on the shoulder and encouraging word from fellow Gryffindors as they arrived at the table, and he made sure to greet or thank each one. While popularity was something Harry had never really sought out or considered important, having it handed to him wasn't bad. Gryffindor's quidditch team had played three games so far in the season, and won all three. Two of those wins were attributable to Harry beating the older and more experienced Hufflepuff and Slytherin Seekers to the Golden Snitch. That accomplishment had earned him a lot of admirers in his house. After growing up on Sirius' stories of his father's glory on the pitch, it was nice to be able to experience it a bit.

As Harry was finishing his breakfast, the morning owls started to arrive, dropping off mail and packages. Soon after getting onto the Gryffindor team, Hedwig had taken out two platters of sausages and a tureen of oatmeal in the course of dropping a brand-new Nimbus 2000 broom in front of Harry. The mail drop now was more normal; Harry barely noticed when Hermione's newspaper dropped into her lap. A few dozen other copies of the _Daily Prophet_ also rained down on those students – mostly upperclassmen – who had a subscription.

As he mopped up egg yolk with the last of his toast, Harry did gradually become aware that the murmur in the hall had slowly died down. He noted an unusual number of people looking at him, including students at other tables. Even Ron took notice of the quiet and stopped filling his mouth with links of sausage. "What's up?" he mumbled, chewing and swallowing hastily.

"Umm… Harry…" Hermione said quietly, "we should get to class, I think." Harry glanced sharply at her, noting that her face was unusually pale, her eyes wide and concerned. She caught his gaze, and hastily folded her copy of the _Daily Prophet_ in her lap.

"Hermione, what's going on?" Harry demanded. Scanning the room again, he could see that most of the stares he was getting were coming from the knots of people around the newspaper readers. "What's in the paper?"

"Harry…"

"Give it," Harry demanded, holding out a hand. Hermione complied with a wince. Harry pulled the newspaper open, and saw on the front page a wizarding photo of his mother, one that wasn't flattering in the slightest, making her look maniacal and violent.

"DAILY PROPHET EXCLUSIVE! Boy Who Lived Raised By Serial Murderess! New Details Come To Light!" the headline boldly proclaimed. Rage slowly boiled up in Harry's chest as he read the article.

"The disappearance of the Boy who Lived just days after the death of You-Know-Who is an event known to wizards and witches throughout magical Britain, but what has remained shrouded in secrecy until now is with whom Harry Potter spent the last twelve years. After exhaustive research, a disturbing picture of Harry Potter's upbringing by a violent and deranged abductor has emerged."

"Long time readers will recall that several years ago wanted posters with the above image were circulated by the Ministry's Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Sources within that department confirm that the depicted witch was responsible for abducting Harry Potter from his cradle, and was additionally implicated in at least eight unsolved violent murders over the last decade. Additionally, the Prophet can report exclusively for the first time that this same witch is suspected of assisting in the escapes of Sirius and Bellatrix Black – another pair of infamous mass murderers – from Azkaban, and is believed to have been an accomplice in a Gringott's break-in by Sirius Black seven years ago."

"Our readers may wonder why those same wanted posters vanished from circulation just a few years later, the offered reward rescinded. At the time it was believed that the criminal had been apprehended, but interviews with survivors and first responders to the brutal attack on Platform 9 ¾ have confirmed that this same witch accompanied Harry Potter on his first trip to the Hogwarts Express, and he was heard addressing her as his 'mother'." Next to the text was a picture of Kushina on a stretcher being loaded onto the ambulance, Harry at her side, gripping her hand, blood and tears on his face.

"It is reported that this brutal killer succumbed to her wounds at St. Mungo's, but many questions remain: what role did this violent kidnapper truly play in the attack on Platform 9 ¾ by Bellatrix Black, a former Death Eater she helped escape from prison? Why did the Ministry fail to arrest this criminal and try to downplay her involvement in the attack? Why has the DMLE failed to recapture either of the Blacks, who have been free for more than a decade? Finally and most troubling of all, is it safe for Harry Potter to be around our children at Hogwarts when so little is known about exactly what sort of a person he has become after a childhood in the company of monsters and killers?"

Harry heard a grinding noise, and realized that it was his own teeth. He tore the newspaper in half and tossed it aside. Looking across the hall, he saw Draco Malfoy holding a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ – even though he wasn't a regular subscriber – and wearing a vicious smirk on his face. He said something to the other Slytherins, and whatever it was prompted a wave of laughter.

"Harry? What's wrong, mate?" Ron asked in concern.

Harry shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. His hands shook until he clenched them into fists.

"There was an article in the _Daily Prophet_ about Harry's mum," Hermione told Ron quietly. "It made her sound really bad, called her a murderer and worse."

"Oh," Ron murmured. "Mate, don't worry about it. The _Daily Prophet's_ barely a rag anyways, according to my mum."

Hermione touched Harry's shoulder lightly. He turned to her, realized he was panting and slowed his breath. "Harry, it'll be okay. No one's going to believe that rubbish," she tried to reassure him. "We know you're a good person, so your mum must have been, too."

Another glance around the room showed Harry a different story. Tidbits from the article were already spreading, and he could see mistrustful glances from the tables of the other three houses. Even his fellow Gryffindors were drawing back slightly, looking at him with a new, evaluative light. Harry glanced up at the teacher's table, but Professor Snape was the only faculty member present, and he was reading the Prophet too, an amused smile on his pinched face. Harry knew that the Potions master didn't like him and even understood why; Harry's father had been his bitter rival when they were in school.

"You're right, Hermione," Harry said quietly. "We should go to class." His appetite suddenly gone, Harry grabbed his bag and got up. Hermione followed suit, and Ron directed only a single, mournful glance at his unfinished breakfast before joining them. Harry departed the Great Hall, feeling the weight of every eye on him.

After first period, it got worse. Every other person in the halls had a copy of the _Prophet_ , sent by owl from concerned parents and older siblings. On his way through the halls to second period, someone in a knot of older Slytherins and Ravenclaws yelled. "Is it true your mum's a murderer, Potter?"

Harry turned, emerald eyes furious, but he couldn't see who'd said it, and didn't recognize the voice. He did note snickers from several Slytherins in the group, all of whom were smirking at him.

"C'mon Harry, they're just being jerks," Hermione murmured. "Ignore them."

In contrast to Hermione's reasoned words, Ron's response to the group was a rather rude gesture, but both of them made Harry feel slightly better. "Thanks, both of you," he said hoarsely, turning his back on the upperclassmen and doing his best to ignore their parting jeers.

Second period was Charms, and as Professor Flitwick was demonstrating the day's lesson, eyes in the classroom turned to the chalkboard behind him. A piece of chalk had been enchanted by _someone_ , because it rose from its resting place and started to draw. Harry's eyes narrowed at the sight of a fairly artistic rendering of his mother that started moving once it was drawn. The chalk Kushina proceeded to hex stick figures to death with a tiny wand, a manic grin on her face. In spite of the inaccuracies of the portrayal, Harry could feel his blood boiling, especially when first a few people and then most of the class started laughing.

Flitwick was unamused when he turned around and saw the display, but he was even less amused when Harry blew the piece of chalk apart with a spell of his own, breaking the animation charm. That got him a detention for unauthorized spellcasting in class. Harry took the detention slip with gritted teeth and left.

Harry didn't want to go to lunch at all, but Ron and Hermione refused to leave him alone, and he didn't want them to sacrifice a meal. Inside the Great Hall, things were every bit as bad as he'd expected. Someone had created dozens of large posters with pictures of Kushina, Sirius and Bellatrix from the _Prophet_ , all looking positively villainous. Below those images was a picture of Harry, and a few words printed in bold text: " **Who is the real Harry Potter?** " The posters were plastered on the walls and even floating through the air above the tables.

Hermione's eyes narrowed and she started dispelling the magic levitating the posters within range. To their credit, a number of Gryffindors including Harry's mates from the quidditch team were doing the same, but more posters kept appearing out of thin air to replace the ones that fell.

Harry could feel his pulse pounding at his temples, anger like none he'd felt roaring through his veins. He'd done his best to bury the rage and grief after he'd buried his mother, because she wouldn't want him to mope and mourn excessively. So he'd done his best to smile, to make friends, to have a normal school life, one that she'd be proud of. But now she was dead and her name was being dragged through the mud. His mum was being compared to the witch who'd killed her, and everything he'd done his best not to feel in the last four months was roaring back with interest.

"I'm going for a walk," Harry told Ron and Hermione, his voice quaking. "This," he gestured to the Great Hall, "I can't."

"Got it, mate," Ron responded immediately. "Let's go."

Harry shook his head. "No you guys go ahead and eat. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure Harry?" Hermione asked, looking worried.

"Yeah, I just need some time to clear my head," Harry muttered before turning and leaving. His feet carried him down the hall at a rapid pace. He decided to go back to the dorms and shut out the world for a while. He needed time to calm and center himself, because the day's events had him badly off-balance.

Then Harry heard footsteps behind him. "Oy, Potter!" The voice belonged to Malfoy, and he didn't stop walking. "Did you read the paper today, Potter? There's an interesting article on the front page." Draco called out.

Harry stopped walking, his hand curling into a fist. There it was. Draco sounded too pleased with himself for all of this to be a coincidence. Somehow, he'd been behind that article, and probably the posters in the Great Hall. Harry stared at the empty hall ahead of him. He knew he should just keep walking, go to the dorms, and cool off. He was angry, far too angry to be around someone like Draco. It wasn't as though Malfoy was going to chase him all the way to Gryffindor tower.

Harry took a few more steps toward the dorms. "Not so nice when someone trashes _your_ family, is it Potter?" Draco jeered. "How does it feel, the whole school knowing your mum's a monster?"

Harry stopped again. He closed his eyes, his whole body shaking. He was back on Platform 9 ¾ again, watching her fight, fast and strong, alive and _vital_ in a way that no one else he'd ever met was. He was there, watching her take the curse that had been meant for him, watching her fall to the ground like a broken doll, never to move again. Harry was aware that he was breathing too fast, panting.

"What's the matter, Potter? Are you going to cry?" Draco mocked, right behind him now. "Does the truth hurt? Oy, Potter, you deaf?" Harry felt Draco's hand grab his shoulder, and the control he'd been holding onto like a fraying thread snapped.

Red ate at the edges of Harry's vision when he opened his eyes. Thought vanished, replaced by action. Harry turned, and Draco's sneer vanished along with the pristine paleness of his face as Harry's fist slammed into it. Draco's nose and cheekbone broke under the force of the blow. Harry was already moving as Draco started to fall, taking a step back. Crabbe and Goyle had been shadowing Malfoy as usual, and both reacted predictably to the attack on their companion, lunging for Harry with muscled arms spread wide.

Goyle was closer, so Harry's right foot snapped up and he drove the sole of his trainer into the larger boy's sternum. The hit compressed the nerve cluster of the solar plexus and cracked a few ribs, making Goyle double over, howling in pain until Harry's rising knee met his chin, sending him to the floor in a heap.

Crabbe paused in his approach, his eyes suddenly wary as he processed the presence of an opponent who actually knew how to fight. He turned his body slightly and raised his meaty fists in a boxer's stance. "You'll pay for that, Potter," he growled before stepping forward and launching a punch at Harry's face.

Harry batted the blow aside with an open hand to the wrist, letting it breeze past his ear. He'd grown up fighting his mother; next to her Crabbe might as well have been wading through molasses. While Crabbe was over-extended from his haymaker Harry stepped forward and to the side, raised his left foot and then brought it down at an angle, hitting the side of Crabbe's knee and making it bend in a direction it was never meant to go. The crunching, tearing sound of a joint being destroyed was drowned out by Crabbe's scream, even higher-pitched than Goyle's. Harry spun and silenced him as well with a knee to the side of the pudgy boy's head. Crabbe joined his friends on the floor, mercifully silent.

Putting down Crabbe and Goyle had taken only seconds, and Draco was just levering himself up into a sitting position, sobbing as blood ran down his face and stained his expensive robes. His eyes wide with fear, Draco scrambled back from Harry and drew his wand. Harry leapt forward and stomped on Draco's right hand before it could rise, feeling delicate bone and wood break between his foot and the stone floor.

Draco screamed shrilly, his eyes rolling in terror as Harry gripped the front of his robes. "No, no, nonono!" Draco babbled. His lip curling in rage, Harry drew his fist back. For a moment Harry wasn't sure what he was seeing, because Draco's terrified visage wavered, replaced for a moment by Bellatrix's sneering one. Harry punched that face again, and again, and again, hearing a screaming voice that he didn't realize at first was his own.

It was the ache of his own abused knuckles that brought Harry back to himself, and the warm wetness of blood that had splashed off of Draco and gotten on Harry's hands, robes and face. Gasping, Harry let go of Draco, who slumped to the floor, his face an unrecognizable mess. Only bubbles rising through the blood around his crushed nose offered evidence that he was still alive.

Getting his breathing under control, Harry pushed his anger back down. Upon looking again at the three boys sprawled on the floor around him, he felt the weight of what he'd just done. It went far beyond self-defense. He'd started and finished a fight, brutally beating classmates who'd certainly offered provocation but posed little real threat to him. He could almost feel his mother's disappointed gaze boring into him. _This is not why I taught you to fight, Harry._

"Oh dear," someone said behind Harry. "Oh dearie me, w-what h-have we h-here?" Harry hadn't heard anyone approach and he spun in surprise, his gut suddenly feeling like lead when he saw Professor Quirrell studying the human wreckage scattered around Harry with an air of interest.

"Professor, I…" Harry trailed off. Draco's blood was spattered all over him. There was no excuse.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Is everyone okay? We heard screaming."

Harry glanced back in alarm in the direction of the Great Hall, where footsteps and the familiar voices of Ron and Hermione were approaching. Harry felt sick at the thought of his best friends seeing him, seeing what he'd done.

Harry started when strong, slender fingers gripped his shoulder. "Let's be away, P-potter," Quirrell murmured in his ear. "Come now."

"Professor?" Harry said, confused. He saw Quirrell's wand move, and a shimmering haze enveloped them. Ron, Hermione and half a dozen other students rounded the corner and came to a halt at the sight of Draco, Crabbe and Goyle sprawled on the floor. A pair of first-year Hufflepuff girls actually screamed when they saw the wreckage of Draco's face. None of the new arrivals saw Harry and Quirrell, however; their gazes slid over the pair.

"Quietly now P-potter," Quirrell whispered, taking a step back and pulling Harry with him, "unless you w-want your friends to know w-what you're really c-capable of."

Harry didn't understand what Quirrell was doing and that made him suspicious, but the professor had hit the nail on the head; he could see the horror and revulsion on Ron and Hermione's faces at the state of the Slytherin trio as a few upperclassmen moved in to check on the fallen boys. Oliver Wood looked up and pointed at Hermione, telling her to run to the infirmary and get Madam Pomfrey.

Harry didn't want his friends and teammates to know he'd done that damage, so he focused on walking silently, noting that Quirrell was adept at soundless movement as well. With Quirrell's spell shimmering around them, Harry followed his teacher all the way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Quirrell closed the door behind them before dropping his spell.

"Why-" Harry stopped talking when Quirrell's wand rose with speed he wouldn't have credited to the mousy professor. He drew his own by reflex, only to have Quirrell wrap his larger hand around Harry's. Quirrell absently caught Harry's quick knee strike in a fold of his cloak and then pointed Harry's wand at the blackboard.

For the first time in his life Harry experienced someone else casting a spell through his wand while he was still holding it. Quirrell's magic mixed with his and drew some of it along for the ride. The resulting hex was powerful enough to blow a hole through the slate and blast a deep crater in the rock behind it. The back-blast should have showered both of them in rubble, but the flying stone chips bounced off of a shield Quirrell cast with his own wand so quickly and smoothly that Harry hadn't even noticed.

As the dust settled, Quirrell let go of Harry's hand and stepped out of striking range. "Fifty p-points from Gryffindor, P-potter," he said as he sheathed his wand, "and detentions every Friday after classes for two m-months once you return from winter b-break."

"Professor!" Harry exclaimed, dumbfounded. "What-"

"My classroom is always open to my s-students if they choose to visit over lunch, and I understand you're d-distraught, Potter," Quirrell continued as though Harry hadn't spoken," but that's no excuse for d-destroying school property. A wizard must be in c-control of h-himself, always. If this incident is repeated, I d-doubt there will remain a p-place for you h-here at Hogwarts. Am I understood?"

Harry stared as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. "I understand," Harry muttered, stunned at the realization. All three Slytherin boys were sure to implicate him as soon as they woke. What he'd done was a grave offense and grounds for expulsion or worse… except that Quirrell had just manufactured a very solid alibi for him, one that would make an accusation look patently false.

"Good," Quirrell said with a faint smile. "I d-do appreciate students w-who are quick on the uptake. I'd suggest you return to your d-dormitory and c-change your c-clothes before lunch ends."

Harry nodded numbly and slipped out of the classroom, his head spinning. He didn't understand _why_ Quirrell had just done that for him, and the unexpected aid made him wary. But if it didn't mean expulsion he'd take it. Harry stuck to back hallways and the less-used stairs, putting the skills his mother had taught him to better use remaining unseen until he was back in the Gryffindor dorm. At midday no one else was there.

No sooner had Harry entered the bathroom than his stomach lurched, and he barely made it to the toilet before he puked. Shaking again, he leaned heavily against the wall. "I guess I'm not adjusting to losing mum as well as I thought I was," he muttered. "Damn it, I have to be more careful. I can't afford to be weak."

Harry rinsed out his mouth and stared into the mirror, willing himself to stop shaking. It was an effort, but he did it. That left Harry with barely enough time for a quick shower and change of robes. Studying the clothes stained with Draco's blood, he shuddered and stuffed them in a laundry bag, hiding it deep under his bed behind his trunk and broom where the house elves wouldn't bother with it. He didn't have time to do more, because he couldn't be late for his next class.


	25. Old Wounds

Chapter Twenty-Five: Old Wounds

* * *

Hiking across a black and charred landscape of bare stone and dust, Sakura decided that 'Burnt Ridge' might be the most aptly named place she'd ever visited. She didn't know what the area had been called before a battle involving the Uchiha clan in antiquity, but even centuries later nothing would grow on the land, as though the fires unleashed had killed the very soul of the earth.

Burnt Ridge Outpost was distinctive in appearance, because while most of Konoha's sentry posts and forward camps were built from wood and hidden in forested areas, this one was made of local stone shaped with earth ninjutsu and simply jutted from the hilltop like a tumor, a squat and unattractive little fort that nonetheless commanded an excellent view of the surrounding valleys. Burnt Ridge's sentries would see an invasion coming from anywhere on the eastern front and as a result it was subjected to constant attacks by Cloud ninja.

When Sakura got closer she could see those sentries manning the walls of the fort. She could also see the damage to the structure itself. One of the chuunin escorting Sakura and Misa whistled through his teeth. "Man, this place has taken a beating." Sakura had to agree. The stone walls were scorched and blackened all over, and in a few places holes had been punched clean through the rock before being hastily repaired.

The gate guards let them through on sight. Inside the courtyard a muscular chuunin with a bandage covering half of his face and dried blood still on his uniform stepped up to greet them. "It's a relief to see you, doctor," he said to Misa, his gaze lingering on the white stripes of her armor and the jounin badge on her shoulder. "We've got a lot of people who could use your help," he added as the gate slammed shut behind them.

Misa studied the man for a moment before nodding shortly. "Show me." She gestured to one of the escorts to join them as she followed the fort's defender. The chuunin in question – a platinum blonde about five years Sakura's senior named Riku – looked briefly surprised but walked with Misa and Sakura across the courtyard and down a set of stairs into what passed for the fort's clinic.

The room was cut out of the rock below the fort; it had one entrance and no windows. It was lit by lamps, and as she stepped through the sturdy door at the bottom of the stairs Sakura could see half a dozen beds taking up most of the space in the room. They were all occupied by injured men, and as the three kunoichi entered, one of the patients who looked the worst off raised his head and saw them. Sakura frowned, noting that the man was strapped to his bed. Then he spoke. "It's a trap," he called out weakly, "run!"

Several things happened very quickly. First, every other 'wounded' shinobi leapt out of his or her bed, and underneath the sheets they were wearing Kumo uniforms and had weapons in hand. Second, the 'chuunin' who had escorted them down into the clinic grabbed Sakura from behind, pinning her arms and squeezing the breath out of her with crushing force.

Riku hesitated only a moment before drawing a kunai in each hand and stabbing the closest Cloud ninja in the throat before he was fully out of bed. Misa didn't hesitate at all. She simply grabbed the face of the closest attacker, and red light spread from her hand to his skull. She yanked her hand back with a snarl, and the poor Cloud ninja didn't even have time to scream as all of the blood in his body was ripped out through every orifice of his face.

Sakura, for her part, recovered from her shock slower than her seniors, discovering that she was in real trouble. She couldn't breathe, and her bones were creaking alarmingly as her captor seemed intent on – and capable of – squeezing the life from her slender body. She lifted her feet up and then slammed them down on top of his. When that didn't seem to affect him much she tried a heel kick into his shins. Pain exploded along Sakura's flank at one of her ribs cracked under the remorseless constriction. _Can't die… not like this…_ Sakura thought desperately. _What will mom do without me?_

A moment later Sakura was showered in a torrent of blood from above, and the pressure vanished. Sakura fell, whimpering at the mingled joy and pain of being able to breathe again. Turning to see what had happened, she gagged slightly at the sight of her captor's head rolling away, no longer attached to his body. Misa had shaped the blood stolen from her first victim into a fluid whip and used it to snap the man's head clean off. Riku was engaged in a knife fight with a larger male Cloud ninja that wasn't going well for her, but Misa split her mass of blood into two bladed whips and lashed out with both of them. In seconds the Leaf kunoichi were the only ones in the room left alive. A glance at the prisoner who'd tried to warn them showed Sakura that he'd been dispatched by one of the ambushers in the opening seconds of the fight.

"Get that door closed, now," Misa snapped. One of Riku's arms was bleeding and Sakura's side was on fire, but they both scrambled to obey. As Sakura helped shove the heavy door shut and drop the bar to seal it, she could hear sounds of fighting and dying from above. _Of course the Cloud ninja didn't just take over the infirmary,_ she realized grimly, _they took over the whole fort and turned it into a trap. We are in so much trouble._

"How are we going to get out of here?" Sakura asked, struggling to control her fear. She shied back from the door when it shook with the first impact from outside.

"We're not," Mira replied bluntly. "A master of earth ninjutsu could maybe escape this fort by swimming through the rock, but unless you've _really_ been holding back we don't have one of those. The most we can do is try to buy time for command to realize this outpost is compromised. Sakura, Rika, trade your packs."

Both kunoichi looked confused at the odd command. "That's an order," Misa barked. Blinking, Sakura took her pack off and handed it to Riku, receiving the chuunin's supplies in return. "Good; now Riku, start stacking up these beds against the door. Sakura, get over here and let's see if they left us anything useful in the medical supplies."

Once Sakura reached the cabinet of medical supplies, Misa started rummaging loudly and speaking quietly. "We're going to be captured, Sakura," she said quietly, "no way around it; far too many enemies to fight through, and help won't arrive in time."

Sakura shivered. "What do I do sensei?" The Academy's lessons about what to do if captured by the enemy seemed very far away.

"Listen carefully," Misa said as the sounds of the door behind them splintering grew louder. "We're going to be separated. You're going to be interrogated. Answer their questions truthfully, with only one exception. You're not my apprentice and you have no medical training. You're a general forces genin. You don't know who I am beyond my name and rank. Do you understand?"

Sakura nodded. The instructions were simple, even if she didn't understand the reasons behind them. Before she could ask, time ran out. An explosion blew in the door and Riku's makeshift barricade, throwing the blonde back hard enough to knock her out. In the wake of the blast a harsh male voice yelled down the stairs, "Get on your knees with your hands behind your heads or you're dead!"

"Do as he says, Sakura," Misa murmured, kneeling smoothly and lacing her fingers behind her head. Shaking all over, Sakura clumsily copied the position. Seconds later armed Cloud shinobi poured into the room. An alarming number of weapons were pointed at Sakura while she was efficiently disarmed and handcuffed. Misa and Riku received the same treatment before they were hauled to their feet, the latter only just starting to regain consciousness.

The obvious leader of the Cloud shinobi was a grizzled jounin who looked to be in his sixties at least. His was bald as an egg, with a silver mustache and hard, pale gray eyes. Those eyes were full of hate as he studied Misa. "Doctor Shibaya," he growled.

"Kanichi," Misa replied. "We must stop meeting like this."

Kanichi backhanded Misa without changing expression, splitting her lip and rocking her head back. "Not until you've experienced the full measure of my suffering," he informed her, giving Sakura and Riku a dark, hungry look laden with enough killing intent that Sakura struggled not to piss herself then and there. "Bring them," he barked to his subordinates. Someone tugged a bag over Sakura's head before she was dragged out of the room and up the stairs, trembling in fear. No one could see her face, so Sakura allowed herself to cry a bit as she was loaded onto what felt like a card or a wagon. Someone slipped a needle in her arm, and Sakura had a moment to feel something cool running through her veins before thought faded entirely.

* * *

In contrast to his previous trips to the stockade, Naruto was in a foul mood as he signed in and made his way back to Kivi's cell. She looked up from the book he'd brought her as a peace offering on his last visit, her eyes hard. "Oh, it's you," she murmured.

"Sorry to disappoint," Naruto growled.

Kivi blinked, studying him. "You're upset," she noted.

Naruto ran his hands through his hair in frustration. "You said your sister is strong. Is she highly ranked?" he blurted out.

Kivi's expression became guarded. "I'm not telling you that. You suck at interrogation, by the way."

Naruto sighed. "No, I… look, I don't care about that. I'm not fishing for information here. Can your sister arrange a prisoner exchange?"

That question made Kivi sit up straight. "What are you…" a slow smile spread across her face. "Oh," she murmured gleefully. "Someone you know got captured."

Naruto glared at Kivi, extending a finger in warning. "Don't."

Kivi rocked back on her cot, laughing softly. "Sucks when the shoe's on the other foot, doesn't it?"

Naruto's hand clenched into a fist; he forced himself to take a few deep breaths and relax. "Yes," he murmured, "I just found out my cousin was captured, but you should be a lot more interested in helping me than mocking me."

"Oh? Why's that, blondie?" Kivi inquired sweetly.

"Because I had a chat with the guard at the gate," Naruto replied with a fake smile. "Apparently, they're getting ready to ship you and the rest of the prisoners here back to Konoha." He had the brief satisfaction of seeing Kivi's dusky cheeks pale slightly. "You know what that means; spending the rest of this stupid war in prison, or maybe the rest of your life if your village decides you're not worth buying back."

"Fuck you," Kivi hissed.

"Look, you want to get on a train to Kumo instead of Konoha? Work with me here," Naruto said in frustration. "Can your sister arrange a prisoner exchange or not?"

Kivi was silent for a moment before she nodded shortly. "Her team leader has a lot of pull. She could do it."

"Okay, how do I contact her?" Naruto demanded.

Kivi shook her head. "You don't," she said. "My sister won't trust a message from you, or any Leaf ninja. She'll need proof I'm actually alive, or she won't play ball."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Well I'm not getting you out of here unless there's a deal on the table. I'm not stupid."

Kivi appeared to be struggling with something. "You really want your cousin back that badly?" she asked quietly.

"I'm not going home and telling my aunt her only daughter is gone," Naruto replied firmly, "not if I can do something about it."

Kivi sighed. "Yeah… big sis has got to be worried sick about me. Okay, you've been pretty straight with me, so I'll trust you a little. If you can take this this off," she held up her arm, showing him the metal bracer locked onto her right forearm, "I can send my sister a message she'll know is from me, without leaving this cell."

"How?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

Kivi hesitated. "Sis and I are both contractors of the Highland Mouse Tribe," she admitted. "I can call one of them to carry my message, but not with this thing inhibiting my chakra."

Glancing around to make sure there were no guards in sight, Naruto nodded. "Okay, give it here." Kivi thrust her arm through the bars, and Naruto got out his lock picks. Haku had taught him how to use them before he left for the war zone, and while the chakra inhibitor cuff had a fairly sophisticated lock, Naruto defeated it after a few minutes. Kivi massaged her wrist in relief once it came off. She bit the pad of her thumb and formed a single hand sign. A mouse with brown-and-gray fur appeared in the palm of her hand with a puff of white smoke.

"Kivi, you're alive!" the little mouse squeaked happily. Then he looked around. "Oh," he murmured. Turning around in her palm, the mouse surveyed the cell and noticed Naruto. His whiskers twitched, and he managed to give a pretty good stink-eye for a mouse. "Hey, blond ape! Let Kivi go!"

"Or what?" Naruto shot back, glaring at the mouse.

"Milo, hush," Kivi chided the mouse. "He's going to get me out of here… maybe. I need you to go take a message to big sis. The Leaf ninja who captured me wants to trade me for a prisoner our side took…" she glanced at Naruto.

"Her name's Sakura, she was taken at Burnt Ridge. She's our age and she's got pink hair; can't be many prisoners who look like that."

Kivi blinked, but pressed on. "You heard him. Tell sis to find that prisoner and a neutral location for a swap."

Milo still looked suspicious of Naruto, but he nodded. "You better not hurt Kivi or I'll nibble you to death!" he threatened before slapping his paws together and vanishing.

"… that mouse thinks he's a lion, doesn't he?" Naruto asked after a long pause.

Kivi giggled and nodded. "They all do, and to be fair when my dad summons ten thousand of them at once to attack as a swarm they are pretty scary."

Naruto thought about that and shuddered. "So how long will this take?"

Kivi shrugged. "For Milo to deliver the message, it'll only take a few minutes. It'll take longer for sis to find your cousin and figure out where to do the swap."

"Then this has to go back on," Naruto held up the chakra inhibitor.

Kivi groaned. "It feels gross when my chakra can't move," she complained.

"Yeah, well, the guard will notice if he patrols and you're not wearing it." Nodding glumly, Kivi extended her arm through the bars and Naruto put the inhibitor back on her. "So now we wait," Naruto murmured.

"Looks like it," Kivi agreed.


	26. Aftermath

Chapter Twenty-Six: Aftermath

* * *

Halfway through the first period after lunch, Harry was pulled out of class by an upset-looking Professor McGonagall. Without explanation she brought him to the Headmaster's Office, and he could hear shouting inside.

"This is an outrage, Dumbledore," Lucius Malfoy snarled as Harry and McGonagall entered. "Are you completely incapable of protecting your students?" Spotting Harry's entry, he managed to look even angrier. "Why is that vicious little delinquent not on his way to Azkaban?"

"Mister Malfoy," McGonagall replied, sounding scandalized, "an accusation has been made, but there is no evidence save the word of two severely concussed boys who are still receiving medical attention!"

"Professor? Headmaster? What's going on?" Harry asked, doing his best to sound scared and confused.

"Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle were attacked in the hallways over the lunch period," Dumbledore explained calmly after raising a hand to silence Lucius' furious retort. "Young Draco is gravely injured and being treated at St. Mungo's as we speak. Vincent and Gregory claim you were responsible, Harry. Is that true?"

Eyes wide with shock, Harry shook his head. "No, Headmaster," Harry cried out earnestly. Remembering what Remus had taught him about legilimency, he looked at Dumbledore's beard rather than his eyes. "That's not true! I spent the lunch period in Professor Quirrell's classroom. He was there!"

Dumbledore didn't react much to Harry's words. _That's right, he's the Headmaster,_ Harry remembered _. According to Hermione he knows about changes in house points as soon as they happen. He was already aware that Quirrell fined me points within a minute of Draco being found._

"You lying little piece of-" Lucius raged at Harry.

"Please Lucius, I understand you are upset, but contain yourself," Dumbledore said firmly. "It is a simple enough matter to call Professor Quirrell and confirm young Harry's version of events."

Quirrell was indeed summoned, and upon entering the room actually flinched slightly at the sight of Dumbledore and Lucius looking at him so intently. The situation was explained, and Quirrell was quick to reply. "Yes, H-headmaster, P-potter was with m-me for m-most of the lunch period. H-he destroyed part of my c-chalkboard, in fact, for which h-he h-has received detention and lost h-house points. I don't see h-how P-potter could h-have been involved in this incident." Harry noted that Professor McGonagall managed to look relieved and upset at the same time over that revelation. He also noticed that despite shuffling away from Lucius' furious gaze, Quirrell had looked Dumbledore straight in the eye as he spoke.

"There now Lucius, you see?" Dumbledore asked softly. "Young Harry could not have been responsible for this regrettable incident if he was in a different part of the school under a professor's eye. Perhaps Vincent and Gregory are mistaken, or have been less than truthful with us? Rest assured this matter will be looked into thoroughly. I do not take any injury to my students lightly, much less so brutal an attack in broad daylight."

Lucius Malfoy leashed his rage and slowed his breathing with visible effort. "This isn't over," he said viciously, looking at Harry while he said it. "Lies have a way of tripping one up."

"That's true, sir," Harry couldn't resist saying. "Printing them tends to do the same thing."

For a moment Harry thought the elder Malfoy would actually draw his wand, but instead he drew himself up coldly, and Harry had the sense of Lucius actually _seeing_ him for the first time. "Indeed," he whispered as though acknowledging a touch in a duel. Turning on his heel he stormed out of the room.

* * *

When Harry returned to the Gryffindor common room that evening, he heard a buzz of conversation that died out within seconds of his entry. Half of the house was there, and they were all staring. He saw Hermione start to get up from one of the sofas, but Ron grabbed her arm.

Harry cleared his throat. "I owe all of Gryffindor an apology," he said loudly enough to be heard by everyone. "I did not represent the house as well as I should have today. I lost my temper and damaged Professor Quirrell's classroom. My actions cost the house points and reflected poorly upon it. I'm sorry for that, and I can only beg your forgiveness and promise that it won't happen again."

Oliver Wood snorted. "Better not," he growled. "Tell you what, Potter: keep playing as well as you have for the rest of the season, and when we're holding the House Cup I'll consider you forgiven." That got grunts and nods from the rest of the quidditch team, and some of the tension bled out of the room.

"Hell, if the _Prophet_ trashed our parents that way-" Fred Weasley commented.

"-we might trash more than a chalkboard," George finished.

"Agreed," Angelina Johnson added clinically. "I can't believe the _Prophet's_ editorial board let that article see print. I saw the words 'presumed' and 'believed' used a lot in that hit piece, and even if it was all true, taking shots at the recently deceased is in poor taste. I've cancelled my subscription."

Harry managed a nod. "I saw how many of you were hexing those posters today. Thank you."

"So to be clear, Potter, you really didn't put that beat down on Malfoy and his lackeys?" Percy Weasley asked skeptically, prompting a new silence.

Harry shook his head. "I didn't. You really think I could win a fight with Crabbe and Goyle by myself, Percy? They'd snap me in two like a twig. I'd like to know why they decided to blame me instead of fingering who really did it, but I don't know who went after them, and that's the truth." Harry wondered if an objective observer would question the fitness of a mother who'd spent time teaching her son to lie convincingly, but he was grateful for the skill. Percy nodded after a moment, seemingly accepting his word.

Most of the Gryffindors dispersed after that, and Harry joined Ron and Hermione by the fire. "Harry, I'm so sorry," Hermione said immediately. "We shouldn't have left you alone."

"Hey, I asked you to," Harry said immediately.

"Yeah, but we shouldn't have listened, mate," Ron rebutted. "'s plain you weren't really okay."

Harry sighed, looking away from them and staring into the flames. "Yeah, I'm not," he said quietly. "After my mum's funeral I thought I could just let go and move on, be strong like she'd want me to be and live my life… but it's not that simple. That article in the _Prophet_ and people here throwing it in my face brought it all back."

Hermione took his hand. "Harry, your mother died right before the start of term! If that happened to me…" she shook her head. "I don't think I'd be here at all. If it _wasn't_ affecting you I'd be worried."

"Did you really blow up Quirrell's chalkboard?" Ron asked, clearly fighting a grin.

"Yeah," Harry admitted.

"That would almost have been worth losing the points to see. Did it scare him?" Ron said.

"Ronald!" Hermione gasped, clearly affronted.

"No, it didn't," Harry replied slowly. "Professor Quirrell… there's more to him than I thought; a lot more."

"Harry, what do you mean?" Hermione asked. "He's just… well… Professor Quirrell."

"There's value in being underestimated," Harry told his two best friends quietly as his eyes turned back to the fireplace. "I thought maybe I was the only one here at Hogwarts who knew that… but now I'm not so sure."

From the corner of his eye, Harry saw his friends draw back slightly and exchange a nervous glance. "If you say so, mate," Ron mumbled. Harry didn't reply, and after a few minutes they both headed to bed. Harry stayed in the common room until he was alone, watching the fire and thinking about the future. One errant thought surprised him: he was looking forward to starting his detentions after winter break. Quirrell was a puzzle all of a sudden, and Harry was curious to see just how much the shy, stuttering professor was hiding.


	27. Third Interlude: Lost in the Dark

Third Interlude: Lost in the Dark

* * *

"What do you want today, Croaker?"

"Why, the same thing I always want: your secrets, Kushina."

"Let me out of this cell and I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"That's impossible, unfortunately. Even if I had not given Albus my word, your track record in regards to wizards who get on your bad side is impressively bloody, and I've gotten the sense you don't like me very much."

"You've given me ample reason. I'll tell you nothing as long as you persist in holding me prisoner."

"Regrettable. Still, there are other means of discovery than conversation, as you've already learned."

"…"

"Your unusual stamina and resilience is of great interest to me. A dueling wizard relies on spells to shield himself from harm, and the winner of a duel is usually the first one to score a hit through his opponent's shields, wards and counter spells. You're different, though. Both eyewitnesses and medical professionals attest that you simply took hits that should have killed you and kept on going. Would you care to share the secret of your ability to survive conditions that should be fatal before I begin experimenting?"

"Go to hell, Croaker."

"That's a no, I take it. Very well then, let's begin."

"What are you doing?"

"I am merely altering the conditions in your cell a bit, my dear."

"You're changing the air?"

"How perceptive of you; ordinary air is roughly twenty percent oxygen. Both Muggles and wizards begin to experience adverse reactions when that concentration drops below sixteen percent, and lose consciousness at around twelve percent. Are you feeling light-headed?"

"Damn it you sick bastard I'm a person, not a lab rat!"

"If you were more cooperative, this would not be necessary. Now let's get your cell's oxygen content down to the level where a Muggle or wizard would pass out and see how you fare, shall we?"

"…kill you…"

"I'm sorry my dear, what was that? Hmm, your lips are starting to turn a bit blue."

"…when I get out of here… going to kill you… sadistic fuck…"

"Save your breath, my dear. Yes, there you go, have a seat. Eight percent oxygen is rather unpleasant, but I do believe your lungs may be significantly more efficient than ours. Is it simply a difference in physiology, or are you using your rather unique magic to remain conscious?"

 _thud_

"Hmm, six percent was too far, I suppose. Back up to twenty percent you go. We'll work on finding the exact threshold another time. Sleep well, my dear."

* * *

"Well done, Lily."

"Don't… don't congratulate me, Itachi. Not for that."

"Why should I not express admiration for your work?"

"My magic was not given to me in order to do things like this!"

"I see. Why was it given to you, then?"

"It exists to protect those precious to me."

"You are doing precisely that."

"Forgive me for being unhappy with doing murder on behalf of blackmailers. I wasn't raised as a child soldier, Itachi. Killing people bothers me almost as much as the fact that it doesn't bother any of the other Akatsuki."

"I don't understand your distaste. It's not as though any of your targets have been innocents, and you've saved hundreds of lives with your unique skills. Powerful individuals wary of assassination by shinobi have fallen to your magic because no one knows that what you do is even possible. You've completed missions without the need for the kind of collateral damage that would otherwise have been done had Kisame or I carried out the contracts."

"Lives aren't numbers on a ledger, Itachi. 'Killed' in column A isn't cancelled out by 'spared' in column B."

"I still don't understand why tonight's foray bothers you. Princess Valtara was a fairly monstrous human being, even by the standards of a former 'child soldier' like me. You were in her palace. You saw what sort of perversions she indulged in."

"You threatened to kill my son if I didn't leave Konoha to serve your precious Leader. Don't pretend you hold the moral high ground here, Itachi."

"Lily-"

"No. I'm done talking to you. Where's that freak in the mask to whisk us back to that dank cave you call a base?"

"Aww, Lily-chan remembers me! Tobi's so happy!"


	28. Blood of the Lamb

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Blood of the Lamb

* * *

Sakura stumbled as she was thrown into a dark prison cell, and fell on her face. She groaned quietly, just lying there for a moment as the door was slammed and locked behind her. _I could have been an accountant like mom,_ Sakura reminded herself. _She said she'd pay my tuition at the best school in Land of Fire. But nooooo, I had to sign up to be a shinobi because my friends were all doing it, and I didn't want to be left behind. I could be learning about calculus and economics right now, instead of how much it hurts when someone hits me while I'm tied to a chair. Not to mention 'what a prison smells like'. Ugh._

Hesitantly – because she hurt all over – Sakura pulled herself off of the floor, sitting up against the wall and taking stock. Dark bruises were forming on her arms and legs, and she could feel more under the gray smock she'd been given to replace her confiscated clothes. The left side of her torso hurt the most; her cracked rib had been given only perfunctory care.

Still, as bad as the interrogation had been, Sakura knew deep down it had been relatively mild. Being beaten with a leather sack full of lead ball bearings had really hurt, especially when the blows landed on her abused ribs, but the masked men she'd been handed over to could have done much worse things to her, like whatever had been happening to the prisoner a few doors down. Even through stone walls Sakura had been able to hear agonized screams throughout her questioning.

Sakura had done what Misa had told her to, answering every question truthfully except the ones about her training. For those she'd just parroted the details of the stories Naruto had told her when they'd crossed paths, and it seemed to have worked.

"Hey pinky, what're you in for?"

Sakura's head snapped up at the voice from the other side of the cell. It was a girl about her age wearing an identical prisoner's smock. Her head had been shaved at some point recently, and the stubble growing back was the same shade of brown as her eyes. Most notable to Sakura, however was that she only had one leg; the left ended in a stump at mid-thigh.

"Poor career choices," Sakura replied with a wince.

"Yeah, there's a lot of that going around. You're from Konoha?"

"I am; you?"

"I was; probably been given up for dead by now, just like him."

Sakura glanced at the back wall of the cell, where the unpleasant smell seemed to be coming from. "Oh god," she murmured numbly. A large, muscular man with dark hair and a scraggly beard rested against the wall, pinned there by steel spikes hammered through his limbs and body into the wall. To Sakura's surprise, he appeared to be breathing. "How is he still alive?"

"Sensei's too tough to die," the one-legged girl replied simply. "So what's your name?"

"Sakura," she replied, "you?"

"I'm Tenten."

"Wait, Tenten? Is that Maito Gai?"

"You've heard of us?"

"Only because my cousin was selected to join your old team; he told me the story."

Tenten rested her head back against the wall with a melancholy expression. "So they've replaced us. I knew a rescue was pretty unlikely, but it still sucks to hear."

"Sorry," Sakura murmured. "If it helps, Rock Lee's apparently still looking for you."

That got a dry chuckle out of Tenten. "That idiot annoyed Neji and I every day for years. Strange to think I'd give my other leg to see him again."

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

Tenten scowled, her expression turning murderous. "The trap I stepped in fucked my leg up pretty badly, but it could have been saved. The butcher they call a physician here didn't even try. I begged him not to cut if off; he just laughed and did it anyways. I guess he figured a prisoner who can't walk is less trouble."

Sakura didn't know what to say to that, so she moved closer to Gai, braving the smell coming from his wounds. Astonishingly, they weren't recent; the blood on the spikes was black and dried. "I don't understand. Infections and blood loss should have killed him a long time ago."

"Like I said, he's too tough to die. The Cloud ninja did all because they're terrified of him getting loose."

Sakura frowned at the noticed that while the spikes through his arms and legs were just hammered through the muscle, the four in his torso and abdomen were more strategically placed, each one piercing the location of a vital point where chakra pooled and flowed through the body. "Hmm…" Sakura murmured, an insane idea occurring to her. "So if he wasn't like this, he'd be a threat to our captors?"

"Absolutely," Tenten murmured. "He only surrendered because I couldn't move and he couldn't defend me from every direction." She sighed. "I told sensei to just leave me, but he- hey, what are you doing?"

Sakura was tugging on one of the spikes embedded in Gai's stomach experimentally. "Seeing how firmly embedded this is."

"Well stop it! Those are the only things holding his guts in!" Tenten protested.

"I'm well aware," Sakura replied quietly, tugging harder and feeling the spike shift a bit. That elicited a groan from the unconscious man before her. "But since these Cloud ninja were so sure I was harmless that they didn't put a chakra inhibitor on me, I thought I'd take a shot at healing him."

"Wait, you're a medic? When did you graduate from the Academy?"

"A few months ago," Sakura replied absently. "Damn, this is really stuck in there good. Technically I'm still an apprentice medic and my sensei hasn't let me practice on people yet, but if you've got a better idea for getting out of here, I'm listening."

"Not really," Tenten admitted. A moment later she'd crawled over. "Here, move." Sakura noted with surprise that Tenten was fairly muscular for a girl. She gripped the spike, and glanced up at Gai's face. "Sorry, sensei," she whispered, before yanking the spike clean out. Gai shuddered, and blood started trickling from the nasty puncture wound.

Tenten got out of the way, and Sakura got to work. Gai's wound was old, deep and slightly infected. Given that it had nicked his intestines Sakura wasn't sure how it wasn't _massively_ infected, but she shrugged that off and got to work. Adult shinobi, she quickly discovered, were much harder to heal than a wounded lamb.

Gai was bigger than anything Sakura had healed before, and it was an effort just to work her chakra into the dense tissues of his body. They were permeated with chakra of his own that resisted foreign intrusion. But once she got past that barrier and started telling Gai's body how to repair itself, his chakra switched from fighting her to working with her. Halfway through the job she looked up and saw a gleam in Gai's dark eyes as they opened, watching her for a moment before sliding shut.

It took Sakura about twenty minutes to seal the first puncture wound, and she was trembling from weariness when she was done. "You okay?" Tenten asked.

"I have to be," Sakura panted. "Can you pull the next one?"

Tenten looked at Sakura dubiously, but complied, gripping a spike jammed between Gai's lower ribs and working it out. There was nerve, organ _and_ bone damage in the wake of that one, so Sakura worked very carefully, remembering the lamb from days earlier. _Don't need to be giving him bone spurs or cancer, but I do need to fix this._

When Sakura was done her head was swimming. She tried to sit back, which turned into _falling_ backward and blacking out for a moment. When she came to her head was resting in Tenten's lap and concerned brown eyes were studying her. "You've overdoing it; you passed out for a second there."

Sakura smiled weakly. "My sensei says my chakra reserves are pathetic."

"Well take some time to rest," Tenten told her. "You're no good to anyone if you exhaust yourself before the job's done."

"Okay," Sakura murmured.

Tenten's fingers absently started working some of the snarls out of Sakura's hair while she rested. She'd cut it back to be level with her jaw line at Misa's insistence, but it had been through a fight, some time in a bag, and an interrogation since it had seen a brush. There was still dried blood caked in places from the ambusher who'd cracked her rib, the one Misa had killed right on top of her.

"Hey," Tenten said quietly. Sakura's eyes snapped open, and she realized the other girl's ministrations had lulled her to sleep for a little while. "So where do you live?" Tenten asked conversationally.

"I'm a Haruno," Sakura replied, rubbing her eyes, "so I live with my extended family. We have a bunch of houses close together, kind of like a shinobi compound, except only a few of us are shinobi."

"Haruno…" Tenten murmured. "I think your family's stamp is on a lot of the steel ingots my father buys."

"Yeah, we used to import steel from Lightning; not sure what supplier they switched to when this stupid war started, though," Sakura said. "What does your dad do?"

"He's a blacksmith; so are my brothers. They make shinobi weapons, mostly; best in town."

"Really? Have I seen them in the store?" Sakura couldn't recall seeing maker's marks on the weapons at the store where she'd bought her kunai and shuriken.

Tenten shook her head. "My family only sells from our store, which you've probably not been to if you're a genin from a civilian family. Most of our steel is already bought when it's forged; we get lot of commissions from clan shinobi with money to burn."

"Wow, so these weapons are very good?" Sakura asked.

"Best in Konoha," Tenten replied, "outside of what Hyuuga smiths make, and they _never_ sell their weapons."

"I've never seen a Hyuuga _use_ a weapon."

"They do, sometimes," Tenten murmured. "Neji let me use his kunai occasionally. A Hyuuga blacksmith can see the chemical changes in steel as it tempers, so it's no surprise their work is always perfect. Still, my dad's steel is almost as good, and he doesn't cheat. Tell you what; if we make it back to Konoha I'll show you our shop and replace all your existing kit, on the house."

"Sounds like a plan," Sakura said as she saw up slowly. "Okay, I think I can manage another round. Spike number three, please?"

* * *

"Slow down," Kivi complained to Naruto.

"You're the one who said the rendezvous is at sunset in the Silent Valley. We've still got a long way to go before then," Naruto replied.

"Yeah, well, there's a limit to how fast I can run without chakra," Kivi groused. "We're not all stamina freaks, and- hey!" Naruto picked her up and started running again. Kivi grumbled a bit about being manhandled, but accepted it.

Naruto was fairly certain he was going to be in trouble when he got back to camp, but as long as he had Sakura with him, he'd deal with it. Kivi's little mouse friend Milo had taken a while to return, but he'd come back with good news. Kivi's sister had obtained Sakura, and was willing to make the trade. Naruto had thought about talking to Genma about it, but he was afraid that his sensei would either say no, or the whole thing would get bogged down in politics or negotiations for other prisoners. So instead of asking permission, he'd just ask for forgiveness. It wasn't like anyone had cared when he captured Kivi, so what right did they have to say what he did with her?

The sun was almost touching the hills when Naruto reached a clearing at the north end of the Silent Valley, where a dead white tree that looked vaguely like a fan was indeed waiting. Setting Kivi down, Naruto closed his eyes for a moment and felt the wind. It was supposed to be a simple sensory jutsu for wind users like him, but he'd had trouble with it even with Haku's patient tutoring. The problem was that Naruto had so much chakra of his own that feeling the minute traces of it that the wind carried whenever it touched another shinobi was hard.

Eventually though, he felt traces of electrically charged chakra on the wind from the north. A minute later, a kunoichi who looked to be fourteen or fifteen landed on one of the dead tree's lower branches. She wore Kumo's uniform, her hitai-ate doubling as a bandanna restraining her hair, which in contrast to Kivi's short curls had been chemically treated and dyed. It was bright red, spiky, and fell past her shoulders. Her eyes were different as well; while Kivi's were dark, the new arrival's irises were lit from within by sparks of yellow chakra. She wore a sword across her back in addition to a shinobi's usual kit, and gold earrings hung from her lobes.

"Karui; you came!" Kivi exclaimed.

Karui's face, which had been cold and hard while studying Naruto, softened and became almost beautiful when she glanced at her sister. "Good to see you in one piece, Kivi."

Naruto glanced around. "Where's Sakura?" he demanded.

From his left and right two more people entered the clearing, but neither was Sakura. A white-haired boy with dark skin and a pale, beautiful blue-eyed blonde emerged from the trees. The boy had a sword at his waist, while the blonde wasn't visibly armed. Both were the same age as Karui, a few years older than Naruto and Kivi.

Karui sighed. "Well, I actually did find the girl you were looking for, but she's being held at a facility outside of our command structure. The hunter-nin who runs the place doesn't answer to the regular jounin commanders, and he refused to hand over any of his prisoners. So she's not here."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Not good enough," he growled, gripping Kivi's arm tightly. "Get her or no deal."

Karui's eyes narrowed. "Don't be stupid, kid. Omoi and I are chuunin," she gestured to the white-haired boy, who'd pulled a lollipop from his pocket and placed it in his mouth as Karui talked. "Samui's already a jounin. You're a genin; a really new one if you actually came here alone. Give me Kivi and you can walk away in one piece."

Naruto had been gathering chakra in his free hand since Karui appeared. Now he raised it and opened his fingers to show her what he'd hidden inside; a dot of greenish light bright enough to illuminate the clearing as the sun set below the hills. "I'm not as stupid as you think I am," Naruto growled. "This wind bomb's got a range of a hundred meters already, and I'm not done putting chakra into it. Not even a jounin's fast enough to get away from that."

"You're bluffing," Samui replied, her voice cold, elegant and precise. "Wind bomb is a C-rank ninjutsu. It's somewhat effective at shredding flesh and even armor within half a meter of its core, but expanding it beyond that range requires exponentially more chakra. No genin has that much; three jounin working together couldn't reach that range."

Naruto bared his teeth and raised the glowing bomb, letting it illuminate his elongated incisors and the whisker marks on his cheeks. "A jinchuuriki does," he told Samui. "I didn't come entirely alone; there's a fox with nine tails sleeping in my gut. Maybe you've heard of it." He paused. "A hundred and fifty meters, I think. Honestly never made one this big before; might be more. Feeling more like keeping your word yet?"

"Fuck me," Omoi muttered, his lollipop dropping from his mouth. "Why is our luck always bad?"

Kivi was staring at Naruto in horror, and Karui looked worried suddenly.

"Say you're telling the truth; you can't control that much power," Samui said, the blonde still keeping her cool. "Not even an adult jinchuuriki in full control of his bijuu could protect himself from a wind bomb overcharged that much. You'll be the first to die."

"Works for me," Naruto growled, his gaze turning back to Karui. "I want my cousin back. If you're all so special go get her, because I'm not leaving without-"

"Samui, no!" Karui screamed. Naruto started to turn; the blonde's hands had come up, forming a diamond with her thumbs and forefingers. Light exploded from that aperture. It lanced through the heart of Naruto's wind bomb, dispelling it – and kept on going.

Dazzling light. Searing heat. Agonizing pain. Those sensations bombarded Naruto's mind as he fell. He wanted to scream, but his throat wasn't working. Warm liquid splashed him and fountained into the air before his darkening vision; it was blood spraying from the hole blown clean through his neck.

Naruto barely felt his impact with the ground. He hurt. He felt cold spreading from his limbs into the core of his body. Dimly, as though from the end of a tunnel, he heard disjointed voices.

"…could have killed us all…"

"…wind bomb… exactly the right way… fizzles."

"…you shot lightning… my sister…"

"…didn't even graze her…"

"…I'm fine sis… just can't get loose… death grip on my arm…"

The spreading cold consuming Naruto's body touched the malignant core of energy coiled in his gut. That ancient mass of sentient chakra woke up, and it did not wake up gently. **"Are you dying already, you miserable brat? Fine; take my power and choke on it."**

Heat exploded from the seal tattooed on Naruto's stomach, flooding his chakra network. The burning cold was washed away in searing heat. The terrible wound piercing his neck sealed itself up in seconds, leaving behind whorled scar tissue. Naruto was burning from the inside out, and his small body couldn't contain so much power. It poured from his skin, and he heard screaming.

"It burns! Help me, Karui!"

Naruto's eyes snapped open, and everything was tinged _red_. He felt an impact and saw Omoi's bare blade bounce away from an arm wreathed in red chakra that was venting from every pore on his body. Samui's hands were pointed at him, and lightning roared from her fingers again. This time though, it met the swirling crimson haze and glanced off, slicing through several trees at the edge of the clearing before tapering off.

With the heat and power came rage like none Naruto had ever felt before, even when the man with the red eyes took his mother. It drowned his mind like a dam breaking. Naruto's fingers – which had grown talons – twitched and closed, parting flesh like paper. Kivi screamed, and as Naruto sat up he saw her fall back, clutching an arm that ended in a bleeding stump above the wrist.

Karui grabbed her screaming sister and tried to run, but Naruto lunged forward, striking Karui with a shoulder tackle forceful enough to send her flying until she hit the trunk of a tree. Kivi fell to lie in the grass, sobbing and clutching her arm.

 _Protect..._ _ **kill…**_ _she's hurt…_ _ **it's PREY…**_ Naruto struggled to think as he moved toward Kivi on all fours. He couldn't make sense of anything. The malignant chakra flooding his body had a mind and agenda of its own, ancient rage and alien drives battering at his psyche.

Impacts, sudden and shocking, sent Naruto tumbling away from Kivi. Omoi and Samui stood shoulder to shoulder, faces grim. Instead of lightning blasts that had proven ineffective, they were taking turns hurling thunderclaps, striking Naruto with unerring airburst detonations. Karui returned to the fray, staggering now with her right arm broken and hanging by her side. She scooped up the bleeding, limp form of her sister, who had passed out from shock.

Naruto's burning eyes narrowed, fresh rage flowing through him. _**Enemies…**_ the voice in the chakra rumbled. _Enemies,_ Naruto agreed. He dug his feet into the ground, weathering the staccato impacts. His clawed hands spread wide and gathered massive amounts of wind chakra. Red-and-green swirls of power shining from the twin marbles illuminated the clearing like hellish suns. Naruto hurled them at the Cloud ninja. Omoi and Samui retaliated with lightning bolts, but this time there was too much wild, unstable power to simply be dispersed. The wind bombs exploded short of their marks, but the shockwaves still picked up all four Cloud shinobi and threw them through the air like leaves in a gale.

Running on all fours, Naruto followed the most familiar scent. He found her limp form resting against a tree, the brown grass around her slowly turning red from her blood. He nudged her with one finger, but she didn't move even when the red aura coating his hand made the skin on her cheek sizzle and burn. _She's hurt, she needs help…_ _ **it's prey, a fresh kill…**_ Naruto's mind was flooded with a visceral image of his claws sinking between the ribs, tearing the cage of bone open with a terrible crack to access the rich organ meat inside, and…

"No!" Naruto screamed, every fiber of his being rejecting the burning red chakra and its terrible hunger. It swirled around him one last time before fading, leaving him feeling weaker and more drained than he'd ever experienced.

"…Kivi?" Naruto whispered when his mind was clear. He looked at her again, and felt something inside of him die. She stared back at him with wide, unblinking eyes. Her tumble through the air had ended in a brutal impact, and the angle of her neck clearly showed that it was broken. "No… no, no, no, NO!"

"Die, monster!"

Naruto turned as a clang of steel on steel echoed behind him. Tears streamed down Karui's face, and the bare edge of her sword trembled just centimeters from Naruto, blocked in its descent by a kunai in Genma's grip. Karui was fighting one-handed, her broken arm useless, and Genma easily batted aside Karui's blade, nailing her in the sternum with a spinning kick that knocked her to the ground curled up in a ball. Samui and Omoi appeared at her side, but both looked worse for the wear after being battered and thrown by Naruto's wind bombs. All three Cloud ninja were bleeding from the ears and covered in minor wounds.

Genma stood his ground between Naruto and the Cloud team, Neji and Lee emerging from the shadows to join him. "Now's when you cut your losses and retreat," Genma growled.

"Not without my sister," Karui gasped, struggling to rise and sinking back to the ground, too hurt to stand unaided after all the punishment she'd taken. "Not without-"

"Agreed," Samui cut off Karui, wincing and favoring her right side as she slung Karui's arm over her shoulder and dragged her to her feet. "Omoi, we're leaving."

"Wait," Naruto rasped, his voice hoarse coming from his recently regenerated throat.

"Naruto, what are you…" Genma trailed off, watching Naruto pick up Kivi's still body and step past his team.

"She wanted to go home…" Naruto said quietly. Omoi sheathed his blade and stepped forward warily, taking Kivi from Naruto's arms. He nodded gravely, and then leapt back, disappearing into the trees with his team. The strength left Naruto's legs and he fell to his knees in the dry, brown grass. "She wanted to go home…"

Naruto felt Genma's hand on his shoulder. "Not everyone gets to go home, Naruto," he said heavily. "That's the way of war."

"I just wanted to save Sakura…" Naruto mumbled. "I couldn't even do that."

"Medical Trainee Haruno saved herself if that's who you're referring to," Neji informed Naruto abruptly, "in addition to removing the target of our team's main mission. She didn't need your poorly thought out rescue attempt."

Naruto blinked. "…what?"

"Your cousin and a number of other prisoners staged a break-out from Kumo's hidden prison a few hours ago, and took out the leader of the hunter-nin teams we've been tracking in the bargain. They escaped with a radio and called for reinforcements," Genma explained. "We came to find you, but you'd already taken the Cloud girl out of the stockade and left camp." He paused. "Why didn't you talk to me about this, Naruto? Technically she was your prisoner and thus your responsibility, but you're really not supposed to endanger yourself like this. Not to mention that communication with the enemy is supposed to go through official channels. Your team can't back you up if you don't tell us what you're doing. If you weren't…" he trailed off. "Well, you would have died."

Naruto nodded, rubbing his neck where the skin was rough with scar tissue over his throat and jugular. "Yeah, I got that part. I'm sorry, sensei. So this was all for nothing?"

Genma shrugged. "Well you banged up one of Kumo's better mid-level teams, so there's that. Your secret's out to the other side, which is both good and bad. It'll scare them, but make you a target."

"But Sakura's okay?" Naruto asked.

"Should be," Genma murmured. "We'll find out when we get back to camp."

"Before that, can we talk about this 'secret'?" Neji demanded. "Naruto was dead on the ground with a hole through his throat as wide as my hand. Then that seal in his stomach that I've been very polite about not questioning brought him back to life!"

"I'm the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi," Naruto replied. That got stares from Neji and Lee, though Neji's swung to Genma quickly.

"You knew," Neji growled.

"Of course I did," Genma replied. "I'm his jounin-sensei; it's my job to know my students' secrets."

"He could have lost control and shredded _us_ at any time as easily as those Cloud ninja! No one thought that was something worth mentioning?" Neji demanded of Genma.

"I wouldn't hurt you," Naruto cried out. "You're my team!"

Neji looked pointedly at the drying blood where Kivi had fallen. "You bent over backward not to hurt her, right up until that chakra came out of your seal. Will we be standing next to you the next time that happens?"

"Neji, Naruto is our most youthful teammate," Lee protested. "He would not-"

"Lee, take off your damned rose colored glasses for five seconds and actually think," Neji growled. "Jinchuuriki are living weapons, and when they go off they don't discriminate between friend and foe any more than a bomb tag does." He glared at Genma. "I'm requesting reassignment as soon as we get back to camp. It is now plain whose best interest you're _really_ under orders to look out for."

"That's an untrue and hurtful thing to say, Neji," Genma said. "I look out for all of my students, but I'll sign off on your transfer if that's what you really want."

"It is," Neji said firmly. "Lee, listen to me for once and get away from Naruto before you wind up as dead as that Cloud genin."

Lee was speechless for a moment and looked between Neji and Naruto, plainly torn.

"You don't have to leave, Neji," Naruto said quietly. "You and Lee were teammates long before I got here. One transfer's easier than two."

"No," Lee said, shaking his head slowly. "Neji, you will be my eternal rival regardless of where you choose to serve, but it would be most unyouthful were I to abandon a team and teammate who need me."

Neji rolled his eyes. "You two are made for each other. Do what you want, Lee. I'm done being your voice of reason." His pale eyes bored into Naruto. "I hope you at least have the decency to tell the next sucker assigned to this team what he's getting into." Naruto watched Neji turn and leave.

"You feel up to the run back to camp?" Genma asked Naruto.

"Not really, but I want to see Sakura," Naruto murmured. "Let's go." They headed out in Neji's wake, Lee silently moving to support Naruto when he stumbled.

* * *

The morgue in the field hospital at base camp Gamma was just a bunker dug into the ground with a refrigeration unit and generator humming away to keep the air cool. Sakura's breath misted with each exhalation as she stood next to the stone slab on which the morgue's newest occupant rested.

Sakura had barely known Riku; they'd talked a few times on the trip to Burnt Ridge, and shared a tent as the only two females on the mission besides Misa. Sakura knew that Riku had been raised by a single mother and had four little sisters back home in Konoha. She knew that Riku liked to crochet in her spare time. Somewhere in Sakura's foot locker was a cute little knit doll with pink yarn hair that looked vaguely like her.

Beyond those bare facts, the only thing Sakura knew about Riku was that she had died horribly. She'd seen enough blood and gore now that the state of Riku's mutilated body didn't make her physically ill, but it made her sick in her soul.

Riku's eye sockets were empty, and while her mouth was closed Sakura knew that her tongue was gone. The body had been cleaned and prepared for its return to Konoha, but Sakura could still see the horrible wounds that covered Riku's body. She had been burned with hot irons and acid, and countless puncture wounds marred her skin, each one located above a sensitive nerve cluster. Riku had been tortured to death, and Sakura wished with every fiber of her being that she didn't have to live the rest of her life knowing that.

When she left the morgue, Sakura headed up into the recovery ward. She waved as she passed Tenten and Gai, who were recovering from their long captivity. She made her way to the bed where her teacher, Dr. Misa Shibaya rested. She had been tortured as well, but her strange nemesis Kanichi hadn't yet killed her when the impromptu rescue party arrived.

Sakura sat down next to Misa's bed, but didn't speak right away. When she did, her voice was quiet and troubled. "I understand what you did, sensei, I just don't understand why."

Misa studied Sakura for a moment. "She was expendable; you aren't."

Sakura shivered. She'd suspected, but to hear it spoken gave weight and certainty to the idea. "Why?" Sakura asked. "Riku was a chuunin. I'm just a genin."

"I traded Riku's life for yours because I see potential in you Sakura," Misa said, "potential to surpass me someday. Yes, you're a fresh genin. You've also learned more from me in the last span of months than my last apprentice did in three _years_. Yesterday you healed – by yourself – a man so gravely injured he should have been dead. You made him healthy enough to fight and free all of us. Imagine what you'll do when you're not wet behind the ears."

"Sensei…" Sakura murmured, stunned.

"I've been hard on you because I have to be, Sakura," Misa continued, "because I can't do less. Konoha's medics cannot afford to be anything other than the best. Kumo's troops are more numerous, Iwa's are better trained and god knows Kiri's are more vicious. Konoha endures because our shinobi are _survivors,_ and the medical corps is the reason more of our people survive."

"If you want to honor Riku's death, make it mean something. Don't let guilt eat at you, because if you fulfill the potential I see in you Sakura, it won't be too long before you're making decisions in triage and deciding who lives and who dies. Those decisions should never be easy, but neither should they be surrendered to chance. Do you understand?"

"I think so, sensei," Sakura murmured. "Who…" she hesitated, "who was that man? Why did he do those things to Riku?"

Misa shrugged, wincing at the movement. "Therein lies a tale, but I suppose you've earned it. Kanichi only had one child, a son my age. His wife died in childbirth, so that boy was his whole world. His first mission and mine, we crossed paths. My team was protecting a merchant caravan and the Kumo team was there to steal something from it. I don't even remember what they were after; it's beside the point. Genin aren't really supposed to die on missions like that; it's why jounin-sensei exist. But shit happens sometimes. Kanichi's son died with my kunai buried in his throat, and for the better part of thirty years Kanichi's sole reason for existence was making me pay for that."

"He eventually hunted down and killed every other member of my first team," Misa continued as Sakura listened in horror. "Kanichi could have killed me half a dozen times in the last three decades, but he chose not to because he wanted me to share his suffering. He had my mother poisoned the day I was promoted to jounin and arranged for my fiancé's assassination just days after he proposed to me. He tortured my first apprentice to death and made me watch him do it. He did the same thing to the girl he thought was my second."

"You told him Riku was your apprentice?"

"I didn't tell Kanichi anything. I let him assume." Misa replied. "Riku was wearing your pack full of medical gear, and that was all the proof he needed." Misa looked away. "She realized what'd I'd done by the end. She was trying to tell him that she wasn't my apprentice, but he'd already taken her tongue, so he couldn't understand her."

Sakura's stomach heaved a bit, but she got it under control. "Thank you for saving my life, sensei," she said at last.

"You're welcome, Sakura."

"When I'm as strong as you are," Sakura found the courage to whisper, "will I be a monster too?"

"When you come into your own, you will make choices as horrible as any I have," Misa replied evenly, "and most of the people whose lives you save will never know or appreciate what you sacrificed for them. But Konoha will endure; that will be your reward." Misa reached over to the table on the far side of her bed and picked up a small velvet jewelry box, tossing it to land in Sakura's lap. "Congratulations, by the way."

Sakura carefully opened the box, and her eyes widened at the sight of a chuunin's rank tabs. The medical corps didn't hand out flak jackets for that promotion; medics in the field wore a set of full body armor like Misa's crafted from light composite plating for the greater protection from injury it provided. The tiny gold medallions would be attached to the shoulder plates of Sakura's armor once a set was commissioned to fit her. "Already?"

"What you did for Gai was far more difficult than the test chuunin take to enter the medical corps," Misa explained. "You've earned it. You'll remain my student until you're a lot more knowledgeable and well-rounded than you are now – I haven't even started teaching you how to fight – but you're not an exception to the rule anymore; you're a chuunin like all the other novice medics. Tomorrow we'll make a quick trip back to Konoha to see you fitted for some proper armor now that your hide's _officially_ worth protecting."

Sakura stared at the medallions. It occurred to her that she should be happy. She was first in her class to be promoted. Her mother would be over the moon, and Ino-pig would eat her heart out when she heard. _Sasuke will have to notice me now, right?_ Sakura asked herself, _even if my hair isn't long anymore._ Knowing what the bits of gold in her hand had cost, however, kept any ebullience Sakura might have felt in check.


	29. Confluence of Fate

_Author's Note: This chapter is inspired by Person of Interest, one of my favorite TV shows. Mr. Reese, you left us too soon!_

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Confluence of Fate

* * *

"Here's your food, gentlemen," a smiling young woman of Pakistani descent murmured as she set steaming plates of curry down in front of Harry Potter and Quirinus Quirrell. "Enjoy, and let me know if I can get you anything else."

"Thank you," Harry replied politely, settling his napkin in his lap. When the waitress had moved on, Harry looked across the table at Quirrell, who was sipping a cup of hot tea contentedly. "What are we doing, professor? Not that this isn't more pleasant than writing lines, but I assume there's a point to our presence here."

'Here' was a hole in the wall restaurant in Muggle London, only sparsely occupied as it was still late afternoon. When Quirrell had told Harry to wear Muggle clothes to his first detention he'd suspected that they'd be leaving campus, and that suspicion had been borne out. Quirrell was dressed to match, looking very different with a heavy coat and knit cap replacing his colorful turban and robes.

"The w-walls in H-hogwarts h-have ears, Mr. P-potter," Quirrell replied after a moment. "It's not the best place to h-have h-honest conversations."

"What conversation are we having, professor?" Harry asked. "So far all you've told me is that the curry here is good." Taking a bite, he had to concede that it was true.

"Let's start w-with a question. It's one I usually don't ask my students until the fourth year, so I'm not expecting any specific answer. W-what is dark magic, Mr. P-potter?"

Harry considered that. "The use or creation of any spell intended to harm another, or one not approved by the Ministry of Magic."

"Almost a direct quote from your textbook," Quirrell noted. "Ms. Granger is rubbing off on you, Mr. P-potter. So w-what makes a spell light or dark is w-whether a bureaucrat at the Ministry says it is so?"

"That's what the textbook says," Harry replied with a shrug.

Quirrell shook his head. "On your first day in Charms class, P-professor Flitwick taught you the levitation charm, yes?"

"He did," Harry answered.

"I'd imagine you and your classmates h-had some fun using your magic in school for the first time, making feathers drift through the air… once you got the p-pronunciations right, anyways." Harry nodded. "Leviosa is a Ministry-approved charm. W-with enough p-power, it frees even very h-heavy things from the grip of gravity. Every w-witch and w-wizard alive uses it for tasks ranging from carrying groceries to moving furniture."

"Okay…?" Harry still wasn't sure what the point was.

Quirrell leaned forward. "The oven in the kitchen of this restaurant w-weighs roughly h-half a ton. If I wished, I could lift it with that charm, and then drop it on the cook. H-he would be dead as surely as if I h-had cast the killing curse upon h-him. So w-why is one of those spells taught to twelve year olds, w-while the other is p-punishable by a life sentence in Azkaban?"

Harry shivered. It was not a pleasant question to consider. "You just said that the levitating charm has uses other than doing harm. The killing curse… does not. If you used an innocuous piece of magic to do something criminal, it's still a criminal act and would be treated as such. An auror witnessing your execution by floating oven would still arrest you, wouldn't he professor?"

"He would certainly try," Quirrell agreed with a chuckle. "Very good Mr. P-potter, you are correct. Motive does matter. H-however, there is one key difference between those two spells, a true difference between 'dark' magic and more w-widely accepted spells that goes beyond semantics or bureaucracy. Can you guess w-what it is?"

Harry considered the question, but it wasn't exactly the sort of thing Remus or Sirius had ever discussed with him, and he came up empty. He simply shook his head.

"Intent, Mr. P-potter, is the difference. Leviosa will w-work the same regardless of your emotional state: h-happy, sad, angry… it doesn't matter. Say the w-words correctly, apply your magic, and the same thing will h-happen every time. Dark magic – spells that are truly malignant, not merely frowned upon by the Ministry – is different. Dark spells actually require ill intent. I believe you've seen the Cruciatus Curse used on others?"

Harry nodded jerkily, trying not to remember the screams of Sirius and his mother. "Saying that one w-word is not enough to cast the Cruciatus effectively; one must _w-want_ very badly to inflict unimaginable pain on another. Truly dark spells are all the same in that regard."

"Why are you telling me this, professor?" Harry asked. It seemed like information that shouldn't be shared with students of magic. If there was a component to effective dark magic that wasn't commonly known, why not keep it a secret?

Quirrell's gaze was serious. "I tell you this because despite your age, you have a depth of life experience alien to most young w-wizards your age. Those experiences along w-with your natural talent for magic p-place you at a very dangerous p-precipice. Dark magic does not always require w-words, Mr. P-potter. Combine enough anger and enough magic, and something truly h-horrifying can be born even w-without a w-word being spoken. You h-have been tested before, and you w-will be tested again. I w-would not w-wish for you to do something out of ignorance that you w-would have cause to regret."

Harry shivered. In his confrontation with Draco he'd never drawn his wand, because his mother's training was reflex to him, while magic was a world he was still exploring. But he could see what Quirrell was trying to tell him. Draco was back at Hogwarts with a new wand, unable to even look Harry in the eye, but he was fully healed. If Harry had drawn his wand that afternoon though, angry as he was… he understood very well what Quirrell was getting at.

The rest of the meal passed in silence. Quirrell paid the bill in cash, but as they were preparing to go he stooped and plucked something from the ground. It was an earring their waitress had been wearing. "Oh dear, I do believe that young lady dropped this. Mr. P-potter, would you return it to h-her before w-we go?"

"Yes, professor," Harry murmured. Taking the earring he headed back to the counter at the rear of the restaurant. "Our waitress dropped her earring," he explained to the matronly hostess.

"Oh, well thank you. Amira just went to take out the trash, she'll be right back."

Harry glanced at the rear exit door, which was hanging ajar. Shrugging, he walked down the hallway to just go give it to her instead of standing there waiting. Stepping out into the cold January air, Harry shivered a bit and pulled up the collar of his coat. Then he frowned, hearing raised voices in Pashtun on the other side of the dumpster. Glancing around the edge, he saw the waitress Amira arguing with two Pakistani men.

Both of them looked enough like Amira to be family. One was considerably older than her, the other close to her age. Both men sounded angry, the older one red in the face as he shouted. Amira looked nervous, her back to the alley wall and her body language defensive as she shook her head and replied with a clear negative.

The older man spat at her feet and said something in a cold tone that made Amira flinch. The man her age dipped a hand inside his coat, and when it came out he was holding a knife. Amira screamed at the sight of it. "No! Help! Someone help me," she cried out as he raised the weapon.

Harry considered his options, but the long conversation with Quirrell about spells and intent made the decision for him. He took a step back, drew his wand and pointed it at the dumpster. "Bombarda," he whispered. The kinetic impact spell struck the heavy, wheeled metal box and set it into rapid motion. Harry heard a shout of surprise a moment before two heavy impacts. He quickly made his wand disappear into his sleeve and stepped deeper into the early evening shadows of the alley.

Amira, her back still pressed to the alley wall, stared in shock for a moment at the dumpster that had passed less than a meter in front of her, striking both men and throwing them all the way to the sidewalk at the mouth of the alley to lie there groaning. Overcoming her surprise, Amira shook herself and ran out of the alley.

"Well h-handled, Mr. P-potter."

Harry wasn't really surprised to find Quirrell right behind him. "How did you know that was going to happen, professor?"

"Oy, what's this?" That shout came from outside the alley, and Harry saw a pair of Muggle policemen approach the downed pair. They spotted the fleeing waitress and the knife glittering on the sidewalk, and proceeded to arrest the two men.

"That's our cue to leave," Quirrell murmured, his hand falling on Harry's shoulder. His wand moved, and the world twisted around them, depositing the pair in the dark, deserted courtyard outside of Hogwarts' entrance.

"You knew that was going to happen," Harry said again. "Why the subterfuge, professor? Why send me out there to deal with it?"

Quirrell shook his head. "Mr. P-potter, if I h-had known exactly what was going to h-happen and w-when, the problem w-would have been solved with a telephone tip to the Muggle p-police. You are an unusually capable young w-wizard, but believe me w-when I say I w-would not have risked young Amira's life in your h-hands if I w-was truly prescient."

"But you know her name," Harry said suspiciously, "and I don't believe she dropped that earring; you lifted it, didn't you?"

"I know Amira's name because I eat at that restaurant regularly," Quirrell replied patiently, "and yes, I did covertly remove h-her earring. The unexpected event I was expecting h-had not yet occurred when our meal ended, so I conspired to lengthen our stay."

Harry blinked. "So… you knew _something_ was going to happen at that restaurant?"

"I suspected matters w-would come to a h-head soon between Amira and h-her unfortunately conservative family," Quirrell explained. "Divination is not a p-p-precise art, Mr. P-potter, w-which is w-why most seers are so p-poorly regarded. W-when young Amira p-poured my tea last w-week I gazed into its dregs and glimpsed h-her lying in a pool of blood. Visions such as that one, unfortunately, do not p-provide a 'w-when' or a 'w-where'."

"Yet you seem to know a great deal about her situation," Harry noted.

"I know because I put the effort into knowing, something few seers bother to do w-when they h-have a vision," Quirrell replied sharply. "I did my research; I gained entry into the young lady's h-home and found a h-history of correspondence with h-her father and brother in regards to returning to their native country and submitting to an arranged marriage, something she w-was unwilling to do after undertaking an education in this country and tasting freedom of choice. I then made it my business to be informed w-when those same men entered this country on tourist visas and came to London."

"So why were we there?" Harry demanded. "Did you want to see what I'd do?"

"W-we w-were there, Mr. P-potter, because I had a p-prior commitment to spend this afternoon w-with you, and I needed to relieve the friend of mine w-who had been keeping an eye on the girl," Quirrell said. "It w-was not my intent that you take a direct hand in p-protecting Amira, but you did so and did it w-well. Many students older than yourself w-would have frozen upon stumbling into that situation, or fled to seek h-help that would arrive too late. You assessed the situation and acted efficiently, much as you did the other day. I w-won't ask w-who trained you to think and to fight, because I respect your privacy and it doesn't really matter. W-whoever it w-was did an excellent job. W-what I w-will ask you is this: w-would you rather h-have spent the afternoon w-writing lines, something other p-professors are fond of assigning to students who attend detention w-with them?"

Harry slowed his breathing, focused and considered the question. "No, professor," he admitted.

Quirrell smiled faintly. "I shall offer you a choice then. W-wear your robes to detention next w-week, and w-we w-will remain within H-hogwarts' w-walls. W-wear your Muggle garb, and w-we w-will undertake another excursion. Now, curfew is nearly upon us so I w-would recommend an expedited trip to the Gryffindor dormitory. Good evening, Mr. P-potter."

Harry watched Quirrell depart silently before shaking himself and heading inside. The halls were mostly empty and he hurried up to the tower, making it through the painting just seconds before the bell tolled signaling curfew.

"Harry!" Hermione called out. She and Ron were doing homework by the fireplace when he entered, and they both leapt up at the sight of him.

"How bad was it, mate?" Ron asked.

"Not as bad as I was expecting," Harry replied. "Nothing like what I was expecting, in fact."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked with a frown.

"Professor Quirrell seems to be of the belief that detention should be productive," Harry answered vaguely, "and it was. I think… I think I learned a lot. This will sound weird, but I'm looking forward to going back next week."

"That does sound weird, mate," Ron agreed. "Don't go noising that about too loudly, or people will think you're mental."

"Well I'm glad it wasn't unpleasant," Hermione interjected.

"Far from it," Harry agreed. He went up to his room to get his book bag and then returned to the common room to work on some essays due on Monday. As he was struggling through an analysis of the goblin wars and fantasizing about Professor Binns being run over by a dumpster, he realized that he'd already decided what he was going to wear to next week's detention.


	30. Worlds Collide, Part One

_Author's Note: It's been a while! Mass Effect: Andromeda is awesome. And a time sink. Vanguards rule. Anyone who uses cover is a wuss and unworthy of the title of 'Pathfinder'. Anyways... chapters!_

 _A few people pointed out that I'm getting a little further down into the weeds than I was at the start of the story, and they're right. I'm trying to challenge myself to tell a story with fewer words, so here we go right to the end of Year One (as Hogwarts time goes). Enjoy!_

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Worlds Collide, Part One

* * *

"Okay, I'm here; what am I looking for?" Harry whispered into the galleon clutched into his hand, feeling slightly silly for doing so.

"Anything unusual, like something that doesn't belong in a construction site," Hermione's voice came out of the coin as he slid through the shadows of the north wing's third floor corridor.

"Fine; I still think you're both making something out of nothing, but if this will make you happy, so be it," Harry muttered. Drawing his wand, he poked carefully at the air over the yellow and black wooden barricade marking the edge of the area under renovation. The air shimmered slightly, betraying the presence of wards that would alert someone – probably Filch or Dumbledore – if he stepped through them.

"Severus," Harry whispered, somewhat amused that the Potions professor's first name was also a spell, if not one that was usually taught to Hogwarts students. He drew his wand down in a straight line, and the shimmering veil parted in a ragged oval wide enough for Harry to jump through before it closed again.

On week four of his 'detention', Professor Quirrell had asked Harry to accompany him on a 'bit of mischief' that turned out to be the destruction of a cache of narcotics being sold by a band of Hogwarts dropouts who lived on the fringes of both magical and Muggle society. That had been the day Quirrell had shown him how to open a hole in a ward that wouldn't be detected unless its caster was actively paying attention to the spell. It was useless in a duel, but helpful for entering magically secured areas.

Harry prowled through the barricaded section of the third floor, and at first he only saw what he expected to: plastic tarps, pallets of cut stone and bags of mortar. "I really think you two are being a bit paranoid," Harry muttered into the coin, enchanted by Hermione to act as a two-way radio of sorts. "There are holes in the floor here, and some of the stones underfoot feel slightly unstable. That seems like reason enough to make this area off-limits. Why are you so sure that there's something hidden up here?"

"Between quidditch and whatever Quirrell's got you doing, you've barely been around, Harry," Ron replied defensively. "You weren't there when we visited Hagrid and he was getting sloshed. Honestly, I didn't think a bloke that big could cry, but he kept going on about the deaths of unicorns in the Forbidden Forest."

"More to the point," Hermione chimed in, "when we were leaving his hut and he thought we were out of earshot he said 'It's all the fault of bringing Flamel's trinket here, I know it. I hope Fluffy eats whoever's lurking about.'"

Harry shook his head slightly. It was true that between flying practice, schoolwork, the end-of-year exams and the stuff he was studying on his own at Professor Quirrell's suggestion, Harry didn't see his friends much beyond meals and study groups, but his slight guilt over that was the main reason he was humoring their odd insistence that 'Flamel's trinket' was in fact the semi-mythical philosopher's stone, that it was hidden somewhere in Hogwarts, and that someone was trying to steal it.

The only time that they could really search restricted areas of the school was after curfew, and neither Hermione nor Ron really knew how to sneak worth a damn, so Harry had reluctantly agreed to sacrifice some sleep and check out the restricted areas of the school. The outer grounds had been a bust – unless you counted the tree by the lake that had been kind of fun to dodge as it tried to pulverize him – and Harry couldn't find any part of the dungeons that were inaccessible or interesting. He'd actually been the one to note in exasperation that if the Headmaster wanted to hide something the renovation area on the third floor made more sense. He's regretted the statement almost immediately when he saw the eager light in Hermione's eyes.

Harry paused in his skulking as he heard faint strains of music. "Are you two listening to the radio?" Harry asked accusingly.

"No!" Hermione protested immediately. "Why, what do you hear?"

"A harp, I think," Harry muttered. "Hold on." Heading around a curve in the hall, Harry slid into a patch of deeper shadow at the familiar sight of Ms. Norris, Filch's cat. He saw the animal's reflective eyes widen and turn toward him even in the darkness. Her body tensed, but as she prepared to run, Harry raised his wand. "Noctis," he whispered. The cat rolled over and curled into a ball, falling asleep right where she'd stood.

Beyond the slumbering tabby, Harry could hear the music more clearly. It was coming from behind a closed and locked door. The lock wasn't enchanted, so Harry bypassed it with a tap of his wand. Opening the door, he stared for a moment at what was inside. "Okay, that's suspicious," Harry admitted.

"What is it?" Hermione demanded.

"A sleeping three-headed dog the size of a small dragon and a harp that's playing itself," Harry replied quickly. "There's also a trap door at the dog's feet."

"That must be Fluffy!" Hermione exclaimed. "I knew the stone was being hidden in Hogwarts!"

"Hang on mate, we'll be right there," Ron added.

Harry winced. "Try not to get caught," he muttered into the coin.

Whether by luck or because Ms. Norris was out of commission, Hermione and Ron made it down from the tower without being seen. They both peered apprehensively past Harry's shoulder at the sleeping monster. "The philosopher's stone must be somewhere past that trap door," Hermione murmured. "That harp didn't enchant itself; whoever's trying to steal the stone must still be here."

"Well, this would be the night for it with the Headmaster away," Harry conceded. "If we're doing this, let's move while 'Fluffy' is still sleeping."

Harry, Hermione and Ron were halfway across the room when the harp finished its song and went silent. They all froze as Fluffy stirred and his eyes opened. "Run," Harry called out, sprinting forward. He wrenched the trap door open as Fluffy climbed to his feet. Ron and Hermione jumped in and Harry followed, feeling Fluffy's breath on his neck as he dropped.

Harry landed on something soft and moving. Strong, cold tendrils wrapped around his limbs, tightening as he moved against them. He could hear Ron panting and then screaming as he flailed nearby.

"This is Devil's Snare," Hermione called out. "It reacts to movement. Stop moving and it will let go!" Harry stilled instantly and felt the plant's coils loosen. Ron, however, was too panicked to listen. Harry saw Hermione sinking through the plant in the gloom. When he had enough slack in the vines Harry slipped his arm free long enough to hit Ron in the side of the neck, stunning him. That provoked the Devil's Snare, but after that neither of them was moving and the plant let them fall through its writhing mass. Hermione was waiting below, softening their falls with levitation charms.

"You hit me, mate," Ron complained, rubbing the bruise on his neck when his head stopped spinning.

"The plant would have torn you apart," Harry replied. "I didn't hit you very hard."

"Boys, please," Hermione interrupted. "Time's wasting."

In the next room broomsticks waited and hundreds of flying keys filled the air. "That one," Harry pointed out one of them, eyes trained to find a Snitch picking out a damaged wing instantly. "Someone's already grabbed it." Catching it wasn't hard, and it did indeed open the door.

The next room was a giant game of wizard's chess and Ron took charge, dueling with the animated enemy and getting Harry and Hermione across the board where Harry found a switch that shut down the game and allowed Ron to rejoin them. The room after that held an angry troll armed with a fairly large club. Fortunately, the sleeping charm worked as well on demi humans as it did on cats.

Stepping gingerly over the snoozing troll, the trio found a room filled with potions and some kind of logic puzzle about which to drink. Flame barriers sprang up ahead of and behind them. Hermione had to take some time to study the books left in the room to figure out the logic puzzle the Potions master had created. The correct potion, it turned out, wasn't any of the ones on the shelves. It was instead hidden under a stone in the floor. That potion, a syrupy and sickeningly sweet concoction, allowed Harry, Ron and Hermione to step through the wall of flames ahead of them unharmed.

The final room was larger, and there was a pedestal resting in the center. A large, gleaming red gem sat on top of the pedestal. "That's it," Hermione said reverently, "the philosopher's stone."

"Holy hell, we made it," Ron murmured. He and Hermione both approached the pedestal

Harry's eyes narrowed. "This is too easy," he said cautiously. "Besides, someone else got to the flying keys at the very least. We should have seen them unless they were ahead of us."

Ron shrugged. "It wasn't _that_ easy, mate," he countered. "If the chess set or that potion room got them, would we even have seen a body?"

Hermione waved her wand cautiously around the stone. "There's nothing magical here except the stone itself. Maybe Ron's right and the thief just failed one of the tests."

As Hermione reached for the stone, Harry spotted something that the gloom around the edges of the chamber had hidden. There was a hole in the far wall that had been blown out from inside. _But that means someone did beat us here!_ "Hermione, don't touch it!" Harry yelled, but it was too late. Hermione's fingers wrapped around the red gem – and then she vanished.

"What the hell?" Ron exclaimed, recoiling from the pedestal. "Where is she?"

"That's not the philosopher's stone, it's a portkey," Harry replied grimly. "Don't know how it's working here – maybe we're too deep underground for the school's wards to work – but that doesn't matter."

"What're we going to do, Harry?" Ron asked, his voice shaking.

Harry pointed to the hole in the wall on the far side of the room. "You're going to go through there. It should lead to the surface. Run to McGonagall and tell her what happened here."

"What about you, mate?" Ron whispered.

"I'm going after Hermione," Harry growled. Drawing his wand, Harry cast a basic dueling ward and then touched the fake philosopher's stone. For a moment he was nowhere and everywhere, and then he was in a dimly lit space with stone walls.

Ahead of Harry, Hermione was lying on the ground, eyes closed but breathing. A huge man with greasy, unwashed gray hair and filthy clothes was looming over her. Harry raised his wand, but before he could defend her a spell hit him from behind, shattering the ward he'd prepared and sending a wash of heat across his back that stung his skin.

Harry jumped to the side, rolling over a waist-high stone slab that looked like an altar as another spell whizzed past him. "It's him! The Boy who Lived!" someone shouted as Harry took cover behind the altar, stone chips flying over his head.

Taking a second to look around, Harry figured by the architecture and stained glass windows above that he was in some kind of church or cathedral. Of more concern to him, however, were the footsteps he could hear, two sets moving around the altar. _In a few seconds they'll flank me, and I'll be overwhelmed._ Harry took a pill from the pouch of supplies his mother had left him and slipped it under his tongue. Then he drew forth half a dozen pale marbles. With a mental apology to Hermione, he squeezed the small orbs and threw them over his shoulder into the center of the large room.

The blister gas bombs exploded and filled the room in seconds. Harry heard coughing and retching from everyone in the room, including Hermione as a breath of the gas woke her up. The counter-agent pill under Harry's tongue allowed him to breathe and dulled the pain of contact, but his eyes and exposed skin still burned. Gambling that he had a higher pain tolerance, Harry ducked his head around the altar. "Stupefy," he called out, sending a stunning hex at a dark-skinned woman in her early twenties who was coughing and rubbing at her leaking eyes. He repeated the attack on the other side of the altar, taking down a middle-aged wizard who looked Chinese.

Before Harry could find the third assailant however, the man found him. A huge fist closed around the neck of Harry's robes, lifting and throwing him in a single motion. Harry sailed through the air until he slammed into a wooden pew, pain exploding across his back and through his skull. Harry blacked out for a second, coming to lying on cold stone floor, his skin and eyes still burning and his whole body aching from the fall. _Okay…_ Harry admitted woozily. _Even mum never hit met that hard._

Harry felt a meaty fist close around his ankle and start to drag him out from between the pews. Kicking that arm with his free foot had no effect at all. He'd lost his wand somewhere, so instead he drew one of the compact kunai his mother had warned him never to use or reveal unless his life was in danger. He threw it and heard a meaty 'thunk' of steel into flesh and cursing in a deep voice.

Scrambling to his feet, Harry took a few steps back as the massive gray-haired man who had been menacing Hermione loomed over him. He ducked under a haymaker that would have caved in his skull and kicked the man in the knee. The same blow had crippled Crabbe, but against this stranger it hurt his foot and felt like kicking a tree. Harry had to roll under the pew to avoid being tackled, and on regaining his feet ran down the aisle to establish some distance. _When you're a man grown, few enemies will be able to stand against you, Harry,_ Kushina had told him once after a spar. _But for now, sometimes you'll meet men you don't have the strength to beat. When that happens, you have to be faster and get away._ Unfortunately, Hermione was still curled up on the floor, gagging and half-blind from the gas he'd unleashed. He couldn't abandon her.

The gray-haired man wrenched Harry's kunai out of his arm and tossed it aside without expression; he also seemed to be shrugging off the effects of the gas. Then he drew a wand, and Harry had to duck behind another pew as a hex sizzled over his head. "You're a nimble one, brat," he growled in a vicious bass voice. "I'll enjoy tearing you apart!"

Harry retreated into the pews, rolling a few rows back before popping up and throwing another kunai. The gray-haired man was waiting, though, and caught the blade between his fingers, displaying speed surprising for such a large man. Rather than attacking Harry he grinned, examining the kunai. "You don't fight like any wizard I've met in all my years," he growled, coughing mid-sentence. "You fight like a man for all you're a boy. You're really Harry Potter?"

"I am," Harry replied, watching warily, blinking often to combat the burning in his eyes. The gas was thinning, at least. Harry glimpsed Hermione rubbing her eyes and then slowly drawing her wand. "Who are you?" Harry asked.

"I'm Fenrir Greyback," was the proud reply, and Harry's breath hitched. He knew that name; it belonged to the werewolf who'd cursed his Uncle Remus. "You've heard of me," Fenrir said, sounding pleased.

"I've heard that name, yes," Harry replied angrily. "It belongs to an animal who makes play that he's a man. No, less than an animal, for even beasts are not so cruel."

Fenrir's eyes flashed with rage. "You'll die for that, Potter!" he roared, leaping forward.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Hermione's voice was shaking as she cast the spell, but her aim was steady. Fenrir froze in midair, collapsing onto one of the pews and reducing it to splinters.

Harry sighed in relief. "You're a lifesaver, Hermione," Harry murmured.

"You actually came after me," she replied in a tone of wonder, coughing a bit. "You're insane. I suppose it must be catching. Where are we?"

"No idea," Harry replied. A few moments of searching revealed his wand lying under a pew near where Fenrir had thrown him. Retrieving it, he glanced at Hermione. "But wherever here is, we should leave. No way of knowing if Ron will find help before their friends," he gestured to the fallen Death Eaters, "show up."

"Okay, let's go," Hermione replied.

They headed to the doors at the back of the church, pushing them open – and skidding to a halt on the stairs outside. Harry took half a step to the side to put himself between Hermione and the dozen wands leveled at them by masked Death Eaters. He was considering options when a silent force ripped his wand and Hermione's from their hands. They flew past the Death Eaters, and landed neatly in the hands of Professor Quirrell, who stood behind the masked wizards and witches.

"Professor?" Harry and Hermione gasped at the same time.

"None other," Quirrell replied calmly. "Mr. P-potter, Ms. Granger, it's good to see you alive and w-well. I hope Fenrir and his associates didn't give you too great a fright."

"Professor Quirrell, what's going on?" Hermione asked, confused.

"He's a Death Eater too." Several things clicked for Harry. "All those times I left Hogwarts with you, professor," he said, "why not make your move then?"

Quirrell shook his head slightly. "You showed so much p-promise, Mr. P-potter. Don't undo it all w-with unwonted arrogance. W-what makes you think you were ever my objective?"

"The stone," Harry murmured. "You were always at Hogwarts for the philosopher's stone."

"Very good," Quirrell acknowledged with a faint smile.

"So why did you leave the Portkey behind?" Harry asked.

"I w-wasn't actually sure w-who my trap would catch; more the luck that it was you. Think of this as _my_ final exam," Quirrell told Harry. "You see, Dumbledore – clever old codger that he is – created a p-protection for the stone that is p-proving to be quite a p-puzzle. I'm not ashamed to admit that the key to it eludes me. So I'd like you – my brightest student – to take a crack at it."

"Why would I help you?" Harry asked. "I'm not stupid enough to think you'd let me go even if I delivered the stone."

"Quite right, Mr. P-potter," Quirrell murmured. "But succeed in this task, and I give you my w-word Ms. Granger w-will be returned to H-hogwarts unharmed. The alternative is that you both die h-here and now, to rest in shallow unmarked graves in the cemetery behind this abandoned church. It's your choice; I w-won't try to force you to challenge Dumbledore's p-puzzle."

The Death Eaters raised their wands; more concerning to Harry, Quirrell had his in hand. Harry had learned enough from Quirrell to know that the professor was as far beyond him magically as his mother had been physically. He evaluated the 'options' remaining in his pouch, and could think of none that would see him or Hermione through the night. Glancing at her, Harry could see Hermione shaking in fear, her eyes scared and desperate.

"All right," Harry said. "Show me this puzzle."

Quirrell stepped forward, and the Death Eaters parted. He waved his wand, and a full-length mirror appeared before him, facing Harry and Hermione, who flinched away. "Oh don't be alarmed children; the Mirror of Erised w-won't hurt you. It's a very old magical artifact, one that shows the viewer their deepest and most fervent desire. Dumbledore's hidden the stone inside of it somehow. I can look into the mirror and see myself h-holding the stone, but the means by w-which that dream becomes a reality is unclear. Take a look, both of you."

Harry stepped forward to look into the mirror. He saw his own reflection, with his mother standing behind him. She was smiling, her eyes sparkling. She leaned forward to wrap her arms around her shoulder and hug him as she had countless times in life. He could almost feel the warmth of her touch and the tickle of her hair brushing his cheek. "You're a bastard, professor," Harry rasped, fighting tears. Even with Quirrell's forewarning, it was a cruel thing to see, knowing it could never be.

"Ah," Quirrell murmured, sounding disappointed. "You don't see the stone at all, do you?" Harry shook his head silently. "Your mother, is it? I w-was afraid of that." His roving eyes turned to Hermione. "W-what do you see, Ms. Granger?"

Harry's gaze turned to his friend as well. Hermione's eyes were wide, but Harry thought he saw more shock than fear on her face now. "Umm… in the mirror I'm older, and… I think I'm the Minister of Magic," Hermione mumbled.

That got mocking laughter from the Death Eaters around them. "Fat chance, mudblood," one of sneered.

Quirrell, however, was unamused and studying Hermione like a hawk. "You're lying, Ms. Granger," he said, sounding interested. "W-what did you really see?"

Hermione wasn't a good liar; Harry could see her sweating. "I… I don't know what you mean professor," she protested, "I told you, I see myself; successful, respected… that's my deepest desire."

Quirrell backhanded Hermione, the 'crack' of the blow loud in the silence. She cried out in pain and swayed against Harry, pressing her hand to the forming bruise across the left side of her face. Harry wasn't a stranger to punches in the face, but he guessed that Hermione had never been seriously hit by an adult before her in her life before tonight.

"Bastard," Harry growled.

"The truth now, Ms. Granger, is w-what w-will save you," Quirrell informed Hermione, levelling his wand at her, its tip glowing with greenish light. "Another lie will end your life."

Harry glanced back at the mirror focusing his will. _I don't need an image of my mother; she's gone,_ he thought at the Mirror of Erised. _I need help._ _ **We**_ _need help. Show me something that will help Hermione and I live through this night. That's my deepest desire!_

The image in the mirror shifted, and it no longer reflected Harry or anything around him. Instead it was a window to somewhere else. The sun was shining brightly on a grassy field. Harry saw three people in the image. Two boys – a short blond in orange and a taller dark-haired youth in green – were having a three-way spar with a pink-haired girl wearing dark green body armor. Below the idyllic image were three words, with three hand movements below them.

Sweating, Hermione looked desperately at Quirrell. "Professor, please…"

"Professor, the stone!" Harry interrupted. "I see it!"

Quirrell looked up, eyes narrowed. "Don't you start, Potter. It won't help her."

"I mean it Professor, I can see the stone! There's a spell in the mirror now instead of my mum. It's showing me how to get the stone out!" Harry didn't actually have any idea what the spell he was being shown would do or what connection it had to the trio fighting in the mirror… except that the longer he looked, the more familiar their movements seemed. They were using the same style his mother had taught him, one that he'd seen nowhere else on earth. "Professor, please! Give me my wand and I'll get you the stone!"

Quirrell looked suspicious, but extended the hand of Harry's wand to him. "One false move and you w-will both die," he warned. Glancing at Hermione, Harry saw the concerned look on her face. Her hand drifted between them toward her pocket, which bulged slightly, and Harry understood. _She knows I can't get the stone because she's already got it!_

"I understand, professor," Harry replied. _Really hope you know what you're doing, mirror,_ he added mentally before raising his wand, slowly mimicking the movements of the phantom hands in the mirror. "Aperto Mundo Pontem!" Brilliant light exploded from the surface of the mirror, swallowing everything in front of the abandoned church in an instant.


	31. Worlds Collide, Part Two

Chapter Thirty: Worlds Collide, Part Two

* * *

"What is it?" Naruto asked as he studied the silver bracelet Haku had placed on the kitchen table.

"Mother created it," Haku replied. "She wanted to use it to make sure our other brother was safe and happy in his world, but it never worked and the experiments were dangerous, so she stopped and put it all away."

Naruto nodded slowly. It had been a long afternoon, and Haku had told him a lot of things he hadn't known about their mother Lily. He'd known since she killed the Raikage when he was five that she was powerful but chose to hide that power from everyone in Konoha. He hadn't known the other things Haku had revealed, though: that he had a kind of 'twin' brother in the world that Lily had come from, one who was apparently being raised by _his_ birth mother.

"Why didn't mom tell me any of this?" Naruto had to ask.

"She would have," Haku replied promptly. "She wanted to tell you everything, including the truth about the Kyuubi, but… well, she was taken."

Naruto's hand curled into a fist at the reminder. After nine months in the borderlands he was home for his first real leave, and while he knew he'd gotten stronger and learned a lot from Genma, he also knew it wasn't nearly enough. Glancing at his big brother, Naruto couldn't help but wince. Haku's face was heavily bruised and his left arm in a sling, his forearm broken in three places. Haku had attempted the jounin exam and failed to complete it. It was another reminder that every day they weren't strong enough to kill Itachi Uchiha and take their mother back, she remained a captive.

To distract himself, Naruto leaned forward and picked up the bracelet. As soon as he touched it he felt the metal get warmer and vibrate slightly. Purple light shone from the runes on the outer band, and orange shimmered in the seals carved inside, tugging slightly on his chakra. Naruto dropped it in surprise, glancing at Haku, who was staring as well. "What was that?" Naruto asked.

"Odd," Haku murmured. "The inner seals draw chakra from anyone who has some to spare; when mother was experimenting I helped her power it. But the outer symbols… those are fueled by 'magic', the power mother had, but she's gone. Where was it drawing magic from?"

Naruto poked the bracelet cautiously. Once again, both sides lit up. "Mother said that magic was basically nonexistent in the Elemental Nations. Other than her, the only source of magic she ever found was…" Haku trailed off, and his eyes widened. "Wait… she said Killer B had magic that he'd never used. He's a jinchuuriki, the same as you are, Naruto."

"So bijuu are magical?" Naruto asked.

"It's a theory," Haku murmured, "only why wouldn't she have noticed you had magic all the years you were growing up?"

"No idea." Naruto picked up the bracelet again, and after a moment slipped it into his tool pouch. "Ba careful, Naruto," Haku warned. "That thing nearly killed mother."

Naruto shrugged. "I can barely feel its draw on my chakra. If it can actually form a connection to the other world, someone should keep it handy just in case."

Haku considered that for a moment before nodding. "It's true that your chakra reserves vastly exceed mine. Very well, but please be careful with it Naruto."

"I will be," Naruto promised. Glancing at the clock, he grabbed his lunch dishes and dropped them in the sink. "I need to get going; practice with the new team."

"Yes, how is that Hyuuga's replacement doing?" Haku asked.

Naruto grinned. "He seemed a bit odd at first, but he doesn't treat Lee and I like idiots, so that's an improvement. Plus, Sakura said she's going to spar with us today!"

"Have fun, then," Haku called out as Naruto headed out the door.

* * *

Naruto looked forward to combat training with his team. Practicing against Lee was always a learning experience, and the joy with which the older boy approached training made it fun. Most days their third team member didn't practice with them; he was far less taijutsu-oriented than Naruto and Lee, his main weapons being a short sword and a unique style of ninjutsu. He practiced the former with Genma and the latter by pitting his arts against his teammates, but for today he was just sitting in a tree on the edge of the training grounds and studying the clouds, because Sakura had joined them to make it a general melee.

Naruto knew that it had stung Sasuke and a few of the other guys in their class how quickly Sakura had been promoted to chuunin, and he'd heard a few comments about her being 'just a medic' and 'not really a chuunin', but Naruto was happy for his cousin. As far as he was concerned she'd earned the gold badges on the shoulders of her armor. Something in the way her eyes seemed deeper and slightly hollow, and the fact that she smiled a lot less, told Naruto that Sakura had paid a heavy, private price for what she'd gained.

The three of them had been working out for about an hour when Naruto felt the bracelet Haku had given him start to vibrate. Holding up a hand to signal a halt, Naruto drew the bracelet forth. The runes on the outside and seals on the inside were both glowing, and the metal was slightly warmer than his skin.

"What is that?" Lee asked, studying the bracelet in fascination.

"It's something my mom made," Naruto replied absently. After a moment of consideration he slipped it onto his wrist.

"Aunt Lily made _that_?" Sakura exclaimed

"Yeah, it's…" Naruto trailed off as a strange voice spoke nonsense words.

"Aperto Mundo Pontem!"

Naruto looked around. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Yeah… what language is that? I don't recognize it," Sakura replied.

Naruto could feel the bracelet trying to draw on his chakra. He let it do so, and after a few seconds he actually started to feel drained, a novel sensation for him. He was about to tear the bracelet off when the draw stopped. Brilliant light exploded from the silver band, enveloping Naruto, Sakura and Lee in an instant.

* * *

The third member of Team Genma was quietly sketching in his notebook when a brilliant flash of light from the field below forced him to shield his eyes. When the glare faded, he glanced down to see that his teammates and the pink-haired medic were gone.

"Interesting," Sai murmured to himself. "Danzo-sama was right; this team is interesting."

* * *

The light was quickly replaced by darkness, and Naruto blinked as his eyes adjusted. He could hear numerous voices shouting around him, but only one of them was understandable. "What the hell was that, Naruto?" Sakura yelled.

"No idea," Naruto called back. "Lee, you okay?"

"Yosh! I am unharm- oww!" Naruto heard Lee punching someone. Catching movement from the corner of his eye, Naruto ducked as something hot and green sizzled past his cheek. Instinctively he palmed a trio of shuriken and tossed them at the point of origin, hearing an adult's voice cry out in pain.

When he could see clearly, Naruto realized that he'd gone from bright daylight to deep night somehow, and that he, Sakura and Lee were surrounded by people with dark cloaks and ugly, ominous masks holding wooden rods. Lee's arm was bleeding from what looked like a hole punched clean through it, and one of the robed men was crumpled on the floor at his feet.

 _Wait a minute!_ Naruto had seen rods like those before. "Don't let them point those sticks at you!" Naruto called out to Lee and Sakura. "They're weapons!"

"Yeah, figured that out," Lee grunted, flickering into motion as more lines of light flew where he'd been standing.

Naruto looked for Sakura, and saw her face-down on the ground with a wide black spot in the center of her armor's back plate that was dented and smoking from some kind of impact. As he watched, she rolled over and viciously kicked her attacker in the groin. The man doubled over as she sat up and swiped an open hand at his neck. Pale green light erupted from Sakura's fingers for a moment, and then blood poured from a throat severed in three places. She rolled to the side as blood and body landed where she'd lain a moment earlier.

Naruto dodged a few shots from the wands pointed at him, and retaliated with thrown kunai. He blinked in surprise when every attack hit. _These guys are as slow as civilians!_ Naruto reminded himself that his mother's reflexes had been normal too, and she'd still killed a kage. _Slow, but deadly; can't get complacent._ After he'd hurled a few wind bombs with results similar to dropping a ripe fruit into a blender the rest of the enemies scattered and took cover. Lee and Sakura had incapacitated or chased off their enemies as well, allowing Naruto to take in the wider area.

They were in what looked like a graveyard, a church looming to one side. What caught Naruto's attention first was a boy his age with dark hair and green eyes standing between a brown-haired girl and an adult who wore colorful robes and a yellow turban. The latter said something Naruto couldn't understand and then lashed out at the boy, who barely ducked out of the way.

The way the man with the yellow turban moved made the hairs on Naruto's neck stand up. He was nothing like the others; he moved like a shinobi. So did the dark-haired boy, but it was the difference between a genin and a jounin.

The dark-haired boy glanced at Naruto for a second, and his eyes gave Naruto pause. _They're just like mom's._ Then he was frantically batting away a spell, an attempt that wasn't entirely successful. Purple fire grazed his arm, and he was distracted by trying to tear off his sleeve before the fire spread.

Trusting Sakura and Lee to deal with the other enemies, Naruto threw a kunai at the turbaned man's back and charged. He turned with astonishing quickness, and the kunai made a hole in his dangling sleeve but missed flesh. Naruto threw a wind bomb to follow up. His wand flickered, and the bomb exploded against a half-dome of bluish light.

Naruto's opponent drew a knife with a long, slender blade, holding it back-handed and moving into melee range fearlessly. Naruto drew a kunai as well, and the battle was on. Naruto could tell within seconds that he was in trouble; the turbaned man was as fast as Genma, almost as strong, and had reach on Naruto. The stranger unleashed a dizzying array of knife slashes, lighting-fast kicks and tricks from his wand. Some were direct attacks – gouts of flame and lances of darkness – but others were more subtle. Naruto took a deep slash to his leg when the world turned upside down for a moment, vertigo hammering at him. He almost got stabbed through the heart a moment later as he reeled back, but Lee blurred in from the side and deflected the stab by striking the turbaned man's arm, so his knife only sliced Naruto's shirt. A moment later Sakura joined them and a quick glance showed Naruto that all the other enemies were down, unconscious or dead.

Working together as genin and chuunin were trained to against strong foes, Naruto, Sakura and Lee drove the turbaned warrior back. Naruto saw the dark-haired boy, his arm now bare and his sleeve smoldering on the ground, level his wand at their foe. He half-turned to deflect the shot from behind, and then a snarl of annoyance crossed his lips. He pointed his wand down, and a violent shockwave rumbled out from where he stood, picking up all five youths and throwing them through the air until they hit walls, stone plinths or trees.

Naruto's head was splitting and he was panting as he climbed to one knee and saw the turbaned man grip his head wrapping and tug it off, revealing unremarkable, thinning brown hair shot through with gray. The yellow cloth split and shot out like twin serpents, seeking out Sakura and the brown-haired girl. Like living things, the cloth bands wound tightly around their necks and then leapt up in the air. Both girls started choking, scrabbling at the enchanted nooses. Sakura's fingers lit up, but her chakra scalpels couldn't cut her bizarre prison.

Lee and Naruto moved toward Sakura to help her, but their momentum was abruptly reversed when they got close. Lee lashed out with a punch at the invisible barrier, and the force of his strike was turned on him again, sending him flying again.

The wizard sliced his wand through the air horizontally, and Naruto's headache got worse. "Surrender or w-watch them die," he growled, his oddly accented words suddenly understandable where they'd been gibberish earlier in the battle.

Harry glared murder at the older man but lowered his wand. Naruto dropped his kunai, while Lee stayed still once he'd gotten to his feet. The coils of yellow cloth lowered their captives enough that Sakura and Hermione could stand on tip-toe and gasp for air.

"Professor Quirrell, stop it!" Harry shouted.

"Let Sakura go, bastard," Naruto growled for good measure.

"Not until I h-have w-what's mine," Quirrell replied coldly. "P-produce the stone, Mr. P-potter."

"I don't have it," he replied sullenly.

"Unfortunate for Ms. Granger," Quirrell murmured. His murderous scarf lifted Hermione, her face turning purple and eyes bulging as her feet kicked in the air.

"All right, fine," Harry growled, moving over to Hermione. She tried to bat away his hand as he reached into her pocket, but he found what was concealed there and threw it at Quirrell's feet. A glittering red gem came to rest by his shoe. "Let her go!"

Naruto noticed Sakura moving her hands subtly despite her predicament as Quirrell bent to pick up the gem. Once he had it in hand the scarves went limp, releasing Hermione and Sakura. The former collapsed, caught by Harry as she fell. The latter was hiding a grin that Naruto knew all too well, though he wasn't sure what she was so happy about; they'd gotten their asses kicked.

Quirrell tucked the stone away in his robes and addressed Harry. "I believe you may indeed be the one that my Lord needs, Mr. P-potter."

"What are you talking about?" Harry spat coldly.

"You h-have the p-potential to become the anvil upon w-which Lord Voldemort w-will forge h-himself, becoming ever greater," Quirrell declared, his eyes shining with a fanatical light. "W-we w-will meet again, Mr. P-potter." Raising his wand, Quirrell vanished.

"Harry… the stone… you shouldn't have given it to him… he'll use it to bring back You-Know-Who," Hermione gasped.

"Don't worry about it," Harry assured her. He looked up in surprise when Sakura knelt beside him. "What are you doing?"

"You're hurt; hold still," Sakura snapped at him. Her hands lit up once more, and she pressed them to the burns on his arm.

"The stone…" Hermione groaned.

"Relax," Sakura assured her. "Whatever that gem was the crazy weirdo doesn't have it. Look." She nodded to the grass where Quirrell had been standing. Lee, who was close by, stooped and lifted up the same red gem.

Naruto laughed as Hermione and Harry stared. "You put a genjutsu on him?"

Sakura grinned and nodded. "A very simple one; there was a rock the same size next to his foot." Lee knelt beside Hermione and handed her the stone with a brilliant smile that made her blush for a moment.

"Who are you?" Harry asked Naruto, wrenching his eyes away from what Sakura was doing.

"Naruto Uzumaki," he replied, and saw Harry stiffen.

"That's my mum's last name," Harry exclaimed.

"Yeah, and my mom's name is Lily." Naruto wanted to say more, but couldn't with Sakura right there. He didn't want to get into a discussion that could lead to questions about how he and his mother had wound up in the Haruno family.

Two things happened then, as Sakura lifted her hands from Harry's arm, his skin pink and fresh where it had been burned. First, the door to the church burst open revealing a number of adults with wands and a red-haired boy behind them. Harry and Hermione both seemed relieved at the sight of them. Second, Naruto felt a wave of lightheadedness, and saw both Sakura and Lee stagger.

Glancing at Lily's bracelet, Naruto noticed with concern that the light it shed was fading. Harry was starting to ask a question, but Naruto cut him off. "Look, whatever you did to bring me here seems to be wearing off. Don't try it again for a few days at least; it took a lot out of-" before Naruto could say 'me', he felt a slight tug all over his body. Everything went white for a second, and then all three young shinobi were back at their training ground in the light of day.

Sakura and Lee blinked owlishly in the bright light. Sakura recovered first, punching Naruto in the shoulder with a scowl.

"Oww, what was that for?" Naruto complained.

"Oh I don't know, how about your weird bracelet whisking me off to who-knows-where to get shot at, beat up and choked? What the hell was that, Naruto?"

Naruto considered what to tell Sakura and how. "Well mom got taken by the Akatsuki, so I guess it doesn't hurt to tell you," he sighed. "She had… special power. Not chakra; it was something else. It's linked to that place and those people; so is the bracelet." Reminded of the silver band, Naruto took it off and put it back in his pouch.

Sakura crossed her arms. "Fine," she huffed. Glancing at Lee, she seemed to remember he'd been injured. "Let me take a look at that arm."

"Oh it's just a flesh wound, dear comrade," Lee assured her.

"Let me see it anyways," Sakura growled. Lee sat down obediently so she could seal the small, precise hole that had been punched through his arm. "So those people we fought… that crazy guy in the turban… Aunt Lily had power like them?"

"Kind of," Naruto replied cautiously. "Except… Lee, did fighting that Quirrell guy feel like sparring with Genma-sensei to you, too?"

Lee nodded, looking troubled. "His style was strange; I have never seen it before. But he was indeed different from his masked allies. They were all slow and fragile, like civilians or conscript soldiers at best. He was as fast as a shinobi, and surprisingly strong."

"Yeah…" Naruto shivered. _For some reason I don't think I've seen the last of him._

Remembering that they hadn't been alone at the training ground, Naruto glanced at the tree where Sai had been perched, but the pale boy was gone. _Maybe he left early and didn't see anything._

"Sakura, Lee… could you do me a favor and keep quiet about what just happened? At least until I figure it out?"

Sakura frowned. "What do you mean 'figure it out'? Are you going to let that bracelet take you back there?"

"If it's his voice… Harry's… then yes. I have to. It's important; I think I could find a way to save my mom there." _At least when I find mom I can tell her that he's alive, but I'd like to meet my birth mom too._

"We are youthful teammates," Lee declared. "I will keep your confidence if you wish."

Sakura groaned. "You just had to say that," she complained, smacking Lee's freshly healed shoulder. "Fine, I won't tell anyone, on one condition."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"Don't go back alone," Sakura said seriously. "If that thing lights up again, come get Lee or I first. Wherever that place is, it's dangerous and you don't know enough about it. Bring backup."

Naruto winced; he really wanted to talk to Harry without Sakura around, but he nodded. "Okay, deal."


	32. Bad Moon on the Rise

Chapter Thirty-One: Bad Moon on the Rise

* * *

Kushina was reading when the vault door sealing off the Daedalus Cell from the rest of the Department of Mysteries opened. The house elf whose job it was to make sure she didn't starve also brought her books occasionally, which she appreciated. She put the latest tome aside in resignation, expecting to see Saul Croaker again. Her right leg still ached slightly, even though it had been a month since he'd dissolved every bone in it from the hip down, just to see how quickly a foul-tasting potion called 'Skele-Grow' regenerated them.

Kushina blinked in surprise at the sight of a new face, one she recognized immediately, even though it had been thirteen years since Lily had last seen him. Severus Snape wore black robes, and his pale, pinched face flushed slightly in the heat rising from the exposed magma at the bottom of the vertical cavern.

An idea occurred to Kushina, and it was insane, but she was desperate. She leapt to her feet, crossing the cell and pressing her hands to the clear wall. "Am I hallucinating? Severus, is that really you?"

Snape blinked in surprise. "You know my name," he said after a moment. "Well, I suppose Remus and Sirius-"

"They didn't have to tell me anything, Severus," Kushina interrupted. "I already know you well; you know me too, in a way."

Snape's eyes narrowed. "What are you babbling about?"

"Lily conjured a pensieve when we met," Kushina told him, skipping over the 'where'. "She filled it with all of my memories, and all of hers. Then we both drank its water. You know what happens when two people do that."

Snape's jaw dropped for a moment before he collected himself. "An inventive lie, but-"

"You were nine years old the first time you met Lily on the banks of the creek in Spinner's End," Kushina interrupted again. "Petunia ran away, but Lily didn't. She wasn't scared of your magic; she was fascinated."

Anger colored Snape's face. "You…" he growled.

"In your fifth year you called Lily a mudblood in a moment of anger at James, and it hurt her deeply because of how much she cared for you as a friend and confidante," Kushina continued.

Snape looked haunted, and took a deep breath. "Sirius or Remus could have told you that," he spat.

"When Lily was pregnant with Harry, she told you that James had insisted that Sirius be named his godfather, but that she would rather it had been you," Kushina finished softly. "Tell me any living person in this world besides you and I know about _that_." Kushina watched Snape turn pale, and knew that she'd struck home.

"You… you have all of her memories?" Snape turned away for a moment, and she saw him biting his knuckle.

"Everything," Kushina replied. "The good, the bad… all of it; I needed everything to be the guardian Harry needed." Snape was shaking slightly, still facing away from her. "Severus? Please, talk to me," Kushina pled.

Snape's eyes were haunted when he turned around. "This changes nothing," he said hoarsely.

"It changes everything," Kushina insisted. "I know you loved Lily, and that she never stopped caring about you. How can you stand by and let Dumbledore endanger her son's life for the sake of a damned prophecy?"

Snape shook his head. "The Headmaster is doing what must be done to keep Harry Potter safe," he argued. "You may not respect prophecy, but it is a real and true thing, something I know all too intimately. Harry will not become the man he needs to be to see his prophecy fulfilled with you shielding him from every adversity. Already…" he clammed up abruptly.

Kushina's eyes narrowed. "What?" she demanded. "Something's happened to Harry, hasn't it?"

"…"

"Please, Severus, at least tell me if he's all right," Kushina pled.

"Potter is unharmed," Snape replied at last. "He had a run-in with the Dark Lord's followers but emerged unscathed, other than a few scrapes and bruises."

Kushina sighed in relief. "Thank you," she said quietly.

"Yes, well…" Snape trailed off. "You seem well enough. Good day-"

"Croaker experiments on me," Kushina said before he could leave. "I think he does the same to the other prisoners."

Snape shrugged. "Not my concern."

Kushina sighed. "You don't care?"

"Not really," Snape admitted. "You're not Lily, even if you do have her memories. You're dangerous and disruptive, and you belong in that cage. What price the Unspeakables claim for being your jailors is of no consequence." He turned to go.

"Severus wait, please," Kushina said. As he turned around she pressed two fingers to her forehead and let her chakra flow. A veil of white smoke shrouded her for a moment, and when it faded her perspective was different, ever so slightly lower. Her hair was orange instead of red, and the ghost of a limb covered the arm she had lost to Voldemort.

Rage sparked in Snape's eyes. "How dare you wear her face! You have no right!"

"I swore an undying oath to Lily Potter. I raised her son as my own. Who has more right, Severus?" Kushina challenged him.

Snape drew his wand and slashed it through the air. The clear walls of the cell lit up, and a moment later discharged a crackling blast of energy that threw Kushina to the floor with a choked-off scream, dispelling the illusion. "Never do that again," Snape growled, stalking toward the door.

"I have all of her inside of me, Severus," Kushina gasped out, levering herself up with one trembling arm. "Get me out of here… and I'll be Lily for you. I swear it." Snape didn't turn back, but she saw him stop in the doorway and look over his shoulder with a tormented expression before stepping through and setting the vault door to close behind him.

* * *

"I'm sorry," Harry murmured at the crestfallen expression on Naruto's face as he sat across the kitchen table at Harry's house in Corolla. He'd waited a few weeks before attempting the spell he'd learned from the Mirror of Erised again. This time nothing had happened for almost an hour, and he'd given up and gone into the house before Naruto and Lee appeared outside, this time minus the cute girl with pink hair and green armor.

Naruto shook his head. "It's all right," he said quietly. "I never knew my birth mother, after all. It's a shame to know I never will. But hey, I got another brother, so the news isn't all bad."

"Yeah…" Harry murmured with a sidelong glance at the living room, where Sirius and Lee were sitting in awkward silence. He'd been a bit annoyed to find out how many things his mother had told Sirius and Remus that they hadn't passed on right away, and he'd said so to their faces. Their protests that they wanted to wait until he was older fell a bit flat, considering he'd ended his first year at Hogwarts with a very adult battle for his life, the second in less than a year. "So tell me about this man who abducted my birth mum." Finding out that the woman he'd only seen in pictures and heard about from his godfather and uncle was the prisoner of a terrorist who'd murdered his own family had sent chills down Harry's spine.

Naruto sighed. "What's there to say? Itachi Uchiha's basically one of the strongest people in the whole Elemental Nations. He's insanely powerful; everyone who knew him says so. It's like if that Dumbly-whatever guy was evil and kidnapped your mom; I have to get a lot stronger if I'm going to get her back. I was kind of hoping I could learn something here that could help."

Harry shrugged helplessly. "I'm not sure what to tell you, Naruto," he replied. "Every time I've seen wizards fight shinobi, it hasn't ended well for the wand-and-robe side. Quirrell's the only wizard I've met in my life who fights like my mum, and he wouldn't tell me where he studied, except to say it wasn't in Britain."

Naruto scratched his head. "Yeah… and Itachi's way more powerful than that Quirrell guy was." He paused. "Is there a… umm… 'magical' way to at least find my mom?"

Harry glanced at his uncle again, who considered the question with a frown. "Sorry kid," he told Naruto apologetically. "Something like that would be possible here, for the Ministry or another national-level magical organization. But in your world?" Sirius shook his head. "If there's little to no magic, then there's no way to set up the kind of spell that would react to, say, specific words that only Lily would be likely to speak. Unfortunately, there's no spell to 'tell me where this person is'."

Naruto sighed. Harry considered the problem for a moment. "I feel like magic has to have some way to locate your mum and help rescue her. Just because we don't know how to do it doesn't mean it's impossible; might be a way that no one's discovered yet. It's something to research, at least."

"That's true," Sirius conceded.

Harry and Naruto compared notes for a little while longer before Naruto and Lee both swayed in their seats. "Yeah, I can't keep this up any longer," Naruto said apologetically, glancing at the bracelet he wore and looking fatigued. "Give me a few weeks and then call again; about the same time?"

Naruto and Lee both vanished before Harry could reply. "That is so weird," he commented.

"No argument here," Sirius replied. "Knowing about that other world is one thing; dragging people from there to here is another. If you intend to keep this up, you should probably try to learn his language; can't keep abusing translation spells."

"True," Harry conceded.

Harry and Sirius were making dinner when the sound of a chiming bell filled the house. Both of them had their hands on their wands when the door opened and Remus entered, frowning and looking worried.

"Remus, I thought you were spending the rest of the week across the pond," Sirius exclaimed.

"I was, but I'm afraid there's been an incident back in London," Remus replied.

"What's happened?" Harry asked.

"Your friend Hermione and her father were on their way to Diagon Alley this morning, but they were ambushed on route. Mr. Granger made it to a Muggle police station; he'd been stabbed repeatedly."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "What about Hermione?"

"According to Mr. Granger the man who stabbed him took her, but he never saw their attacker's face. Muggle and magical authorities are looking for her."

"I want to go join the search," Harry replied immediately.

"I thought you'd say that," Remus said. "Let's go."

* * *

 _Two Weeks Later_

Harry and Ron rushed down the hall of St. Mungo's, dodging around nurses and patients. When they reached Hermione's room they entered and paused at the sight inside. Hermione lay in a hospital bed, looking almost unrecognizable. She was unhealthily thin, and where the hospital gown didn't cover her, ragged scars dotted her arms and legs. Someone had crudely shaved her head; her formerly bushy brown hair was only short stubble on her skull. Her eyes were faraway and haunted as she looked up and saw them.

Hermione's mother, who Harry had seen several times in the last few weeks of frantic searching, was an expected presence by her bedside. Her father was absent, still recovering from his own injuries at a Muggle hospital. Less explicable was the presence of a grim-faced auror standing inside the door.

"Ron… Harry…" Hermione said in a tone of utter relief. "Thank god you're here."

"Hermione, you're okay!" Ron exclaimed. He crossed the room and leaned over to embrace her, only to be pulled back by the auror. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"No contact with the patient," the auror growled at Ron. "She could bite or scratch you and pass on the infection."

"Why won't you listen to me, I'm not going to hurt anyone!" Hermione cried out, tears glimmering in her eyes.

"Tell that to the Muggle who found you," the auror said harshly, making Hermione flinch.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "What is going on here?" he demanded of the auror. "Why are you treating Hermione like this? She was just kidnapped! She's the victim here!"

"I'm aware, boy," the auror snapped. "My job here is to make sure there aren't any more victims!"

"It was Fenrir Greyback, Harry," Hermione said quietly. "He…" she looked at her arms and legs covered in marks of tooth and claw, dissolving into tears. Her mother hugged her, glaring at the auror as she did so. "He changed and bit me; the ones who followed him did, too."

"Oh god…" Harry murmured, feeling a chunk of ice form in the pit of his stomach. "Hermione, no…"

"Once Fenrir was satisfied that I wasn't going to die," Hermione continued bitterly, "he dumped me on a rural road. I remember walking for hours, hurting, bleeding, and looking for help. The sun set… I don't remember anything after that. The next thing I knew I was here." Harry saw lost horror in Hermione's dark eyes, and it made him want to hurt someone – preferably Fenrir Greyback. "They say I killed a man, Harry."

"A farmer's wife called the Muggle police when her husband went to investigate noises coming from his barn and didn't return. It's fortunate that the responding officer happened to be a squib. He managed to lock Ms. Granger in the barn with the man she'd torn apart and contacted the Ministry," the auror finished the tale bluntly.

"Okay," Harry said evenly. "That doesn't explain why you're still here acting like Hermione's a criminal."

"I told you-"

"Newly changed werewolves are not dangerous or contagious unless the moon is full, a condition that will not occur again for twenty-six days, McCree," Remus interrupted as he entered the room. "Something you'd know if you'd paid attention in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

The auror –McCree – sneered at the sight of Remus. "Lupin. Why am I not surprised to see you here? Come to defend one of your kind? As though any of you need anything save a dementor's kiss." That got a shocked gasp from Hermione and glares from Ron and Harry.

"Get out, McCree," Remus snapped, his eyes burning coldly. "If you must protect St. Mungo's from a _dangerous_ thirteen year old girl you can do it from outside."

"You don't give me orders, Lupin," McCree replied pugnaciously, getting in Remus' face.

"This is my daughter's room, and you are upsetting her," Hermione's mother said sharply. "Must I find her doctor so he can ask you to leave?"

McCree looked down his nose at Ms. Granger, and Harry wondered for a moment if the man hated Muggles or werewolves more. "Fine," he muttered. "Let your guard down. The consequences are on your heads." With that he stormed out of the room, and everyone relaxed a bit.

"Hermione, this is my Uncle Remus. He's… ah…" Harry trailed off.

"I am – like you, more's the pity – afflicted with lycanthropy Ms. Granger," Remus said smoothly. "I was turned by the same cruel man, in fact." Crossing the room, he knelt by Hermione's bed. "As someone who has been exactly where you are now, I'm going to tell you something that I'd like you to remember: all things heal, in time. You still have a life ahead of you to live, and it can still be a good, fulfilling life, as hard as that may be to see right at this moment."

Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes. "But I killed a man," she said miserably, "some poor farmer who was just trying to protect his livestock."

Remus shook his head. "No," he replied immediately. "Fenrir killed that farmer. He turned you into a weapon and then cast you out on the one night he knew you'd not be able to stop what was about to happen. I have been a werewolf since I was younger than you, and I cannot control myself under the full moon without a rare and expensive potion. It is _not your fault_ that you were robbed of your will."

Remus stayed and talked with Hermione and her mother for hours, answering their questions and telling them what to expect. By the end of the conversation Ms. Granger had resolved to talk to her husband about moving out of the city and finding a house remote enough for Hermione to have a place to weather the full moon when she was home. Hermione was quiet and withdrawn, asking unusually few questions. That atypical behavior caused Harry and Ron to exchange more than a few concerned looks. By the end she did seem less distraught than she had when they arrived.

Sirius arrived eventually to check in on them, though he'd taken a Polyjuice Potion to alter his appearance. Harry recognized him by the way he moved, introducing his guardian to his friends for the first time. Once that was done, he spoke up. "I know this is a big request," he said to Sirius, "but I want to become an Animagus."

Sirius frowned. "Becoming an Animagus is not something to do lightly Harry, especially when you're young," he warned. "It's difficult, dangerous magic, and it's irreversible. Your mother would not approve of you taking a risk like that."

"I'm aware of the risks," Harry replied evenly. "I also know that you and my father both became Animagi in order to spare Uncle Remus from being alone during his transformations. Do you really think I would do less for Hermione?"

"Harry, what are you talking about?" Hermione asked, looking confused.

"Yeah, what does being an Animagus have to do with anything?" Ron added.

Sirius sighed, giving Harry a dire look before explaining. "Transformed werewolves will attack humans on instinct, but they exhibit no aggression at all toward animals. It is true – as Harry knows – that his father, our friend Peter and myself all became Animagi in order to spend the nights of the full moon keeping Remus company while we were at Hogwarts. Transformed werewolves who are both alone and confined often become agitated and can harm themselves. However, what James and I did was also stupid and impulsive, and our parents rightly kicked our asses for performing the ritual without permission or supervision."

"I'm asking for both," Harry said, undeterred, "because I think I'll have a better chance if you help me. But I will figure out how to do it on my own if you won't help."

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "Harry," he said warningly.

"Harry, don't…" Hermione said quietly, "you don't need to do this for me. It's like your Uncle said; I'll learn to live with this… curse."

"Why, Hermione? Because you're not worth it?" Harry demanded. "You are worth the risk to me." He glanced at Remus, who looked troubled but hadn't spoken up. "You've always said your transformations are harder when you're alone. You and Sirius disappear together during the full moon for as long I've known you. Will it be any different for Hermione?"

Remus sighed. "We should help him with the ritual, Sirius," he said at last.

"Remus!" Sirius bristled. "Kushina would not-"

"No, Kushina would not approve, but she's… not here anymore, so we have to do the best we can for her and for Harry," Remus countered sadly. "You've known Harry his whole life, Sirius. Do you really think he's bluffing, that he won't research becoming an Animagus on his own if we don't help?"

Sirius rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Fine," he said irritably. The look he gave Harry when he raised his gaze was irritated but proud, too. "You're so much like your father, Harry."

"So… why is becoming an Animagus dangerous?" Ron interjected. "The head of our house Professor McGonagall is a cat Animagus, and she's a teacher!"

"There are two risks associated with undergoing the Animagus ritual," Remus answered. "The first and most common problem is that it fails and damages the magical core of the wizard in question, permanently weakening their magic. That's happened in about two percent of all rituals attempted. The second and far less common problem is that the ritual goes a bit too well. The wizard is transformed into an animal… but loses all desire to change back."

"Blimey, Harry," Ron exclaimed, "and you want to do that to yourself?"

"I've taken bigger risks before," Harry answered. "Hell, going after the philosopher's stone was way more dangerous. This is worth it."

Ron nodded slowly. "I suppose you're right." He turned to Sirius. "I'd like to become an Animagus too."

Sirius chuckled. "Two's no harder than one," he admitted, "but I will not help you unless you have permission from your parents."

"I'll get it," Ron replied.

Hermione started sniffling. Harry and Ron turned to see tears in her eyes, but she was smiling. "You guys don't have to do this, really…"

"We're going to," Harry and Ron replied instantly.

"Thank you," she concluded quietly.

* * *

The sun was low in the sky across the rippling water of the Pamlico Sound when the crack of apparition sounded across the sands of the beach above the crash of the waves. Harry and Sirius looked up to see Remus, Ron and a wizard in his twenties with the same shade of bright red hair, worn long.

"Glad to see you made it," Harry called out to Ron.

"Wasn't sure I was going to," Ron replied nervously, looking over his shoulder as though expecting to see someone there.

"You did manage to scare mum pretty well," the older Weasley added with a grin. "Haven't seen her that mad since Charlie told her he was haring off across the Channel to play with dragons."

"This is Bill, my eldest brother," Ron explained to Harry and Sirius.

"Pleased to meet you," Sirius said, extending a hand which Bill shook firmly. "Come to see your brother become an Animagus?"

"Came to make sure it gets done right," Bill replied seriously. "Mum was about ready to lock Ron in his room until the fall, but da put his foot down; said Ron's a Gryffindor now and old enough to make this decision for himself. Da also asked me to come and have a look, make sure you know what you're doing before I let my brother undergo anything irreversible."

Sirius grinned, not at all offended by a younger wizard wanting to check his work. "Third set of eyes is always welcome." He gestured to the twin buckets full of smooth, rounded stones that he and Harry had toted down to the beach. "Come help me set up the ritual circles. Assure yourself that they're correctly placed and the stones are all properly engraved."

An hour later Bill conceded that Sirius and Remus' work was without any flaw he could find. Harry and Ron stepped into identical circles of dark stones set in the pale sand. "So there's really no way to know what animal we're going to turn into?" Ron asked.

"None at all," Sirius replied cheerfully. "It won't be something that would endanger you; no one's turned into a fish or a mayfly before. Mammals are the most common, but there are exceptions. Beyond that, it's not known how the ritual picks the animal form."

"Some scholars have theorized that a wizard or witch's deepest attributes contribute to the Animagus form, similar to the corporeal Patronus Charm," Remus added, "but I'm skeptical of that. There was nothing particularly deer-like about Harry's father, but he turned into a stag."

"Then again, Peter did turn out to be a rat at heart," Sirius reminded Remus darkly.

"True," Remus murmured. "So, are you two ready?"

"Ready," Harry replied.

"Ready," Ron agreed, looking a trifle nervous but determined.

Sirius raised his wand. The stones encircling Harry and Ron's feet started to glow, pale light shining from the symbols carved into them. Harry shivered at the sensation of foreign magic pressing in on him.

"Woah, this feels really weird," Ron commented, and Harry glanced over as his friend's voice climbed noticeably in pitch from the beginning of the sentence to the end. He could see Ron shrinking, the orange-red color of his hair bleeding down his face and neck.

Then Harry had no attention to spare for Ron. All over his body, his skin tingled. Holding up his hands, he watched his fingers shrink into his palms and pale yellow fur sprout from every exposed inch of his skin. He heard a staccato series of pops coming from inside of his body as the bones in his arms, legs and spine _shifted_. He reflected as he fell forward onto hands and knees that it should have been agonizing, but it wasn't. He felt like he was floating as his body flowed, change and slowly _grew_.

The sun had set when Harry's body stopped changing, but when he looked up the beach seemed to be as clear as day. His eyes tracked every shifting blade of grass on the top of the dunes, every bird and crab fluttering or scuttling about. Colors were pale and washed-out, some –including blue – gone altogether, but the visual acuity was so sharp it took him time to process.

His ears were assaulted from every direction; Harry could hear the wingbeats of seagulls and the burrowing of a crab near his hand and the voices of the family having dinner on their deck in one of the houses on the other side of the dune. The smells were even more intense. He could smell every ingredient of that family's meal, and the aroma of the meat made him salivate. He caught the scents of Sirius, Remus, and Bill. Ron's too, though it was faded.

"Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised you decided to out-do me," Sirius observed. Harry looked _up_ – his head was at waist height now – and saw his godfather looking down at him. Sirius waved his wand, turning the sand in front of him into a reflective surface. Harry peered into it – and shied back from the fierce yellow eyes and powerful jaws of a very large feline. Sirius chuckled at the reaction. "I'm pretty sure you're an American mountain lion, Harry. It seems that living here for so long left some kind of impression on you."

Examining himself in fascination, Harry found short, tawny fur over powerful muscle, paws with formidable-looking claws sheathed in each blunt toe, and a mouth full of fangs that seemed quite large as he ran an agile tongue over them.

Remembering Ron, Harry looked over at the other stone circle. Hopping around on the sand was a fierce-looking bird with sharp talons and a wicked beak. Some of the feathers on his cheeks and breast were the same color of red as Ron's hair.

"He's some sort of raptor I'd say," Remus said, "but I'll have to go dig out a reference book to tell you which type."

Bill chuckled, "That's a sparrowhawk, Mr. Lupin. Some of them hunt in the fields around the Burrow. Ron loved trying to spot them when he was little."

Sirius clapped his hands loudly. "All right, now both of you change back, immediately. Visualize yourselves as you were, as humans, and will the change."

Harry closed his eyes and did his best to block out the sounds and smells. _I am Harry Potter. Wizard. Human. I am me._ When he opened his eyes again it was properly dark and he had hands and feet again. Turning to Ron, he watched his best friend swell upwards, feathers fading into skin.

"Woah, that was a trip," Ron exclaimed. "When do I get to fly?"

"Whenever you want to," Sirius replied with a grin. "You're an Animagus now."

* * *

 _Author's Note: I'm sure I'll get a few more 'hey that's not Potterverse canon!' comments. For the record, I considered having Ron and Harry wander around all summer with a mandrake leaf in their mouths, muttering a spell every day, but then I decided that particular piece of canon is silly._


	33. Tested

Chapter Thirty-Two: Tested

* * *

When Genma summoned the whole team together, Naruto was expecting a work-out. Instead, it seemed his sensei wanted to talk. "I'm facing a difficult decision," Genma told Naruto, Sai and Lee, "one that I wouldn't usually discuss with my students. As you may or may not know there's a Chuunin Exam coming up in a few months. It will be hosted by Kiri, and every village has been invited to send genin teams. I have to let the Hokage know soon if I think you three are ready for the test."

"Normally I've made it a rule never to enter a rookie team into an exam, even one held here at home," Genma continued, holding up a cautioning hand at the eager looks in Naruto and Lee's eyes, "because the Chuunin exam is difficult and dangerous, and you _can_ die. I'm bringing it up because while you two," he pointed to Naruto and Sai, "are rookies, Lee is a year ahead of you and you're both more capable than most fresh genin. So what are your opinions on taking the exam this summer?"

Naruto glanced at his teammates, and then spoke up first. "Sensei, you know my answer," he said firmly. "I have to test myself. I have to get stronger. I want to take the exam, especially if it's a challenge."

"Yosh! I am, of course, ready and eager for this youthful contest!" Lee exclaimed.

"I will defer to the wishes of my teammates," Sai said quietly. "I am not driven to seek promotion in haste, but neither do I fear this exam or anticipate failure."

Genma sighed, but nodded. "I'm concerned that you two," he looked at Naruto and Lee seriously, "aren't taking this as seriously as you should… but the Hokage thought you were mature enough to go to war, so I'll trust that you're smart and mature enough to be careful, be cautious and come back in one piece. That's far more important than a quick promotion. Understood?" All three genin nodded. "Good."

* * *

 _One Month Later_

Standing on a sunny beach with a lush jungle at his back, listening to the crash of waves, the screeching of seagulls and the murmur of voices around him, Naruto reflected that just getting to the exam site had been quite an adventure. On the first leg of the journey, Naruto's team and several others from Konoha – including Sasuke's – had travelled east together until they reached the coast of the Land of Fire. From there they'd boarded a ship owned and operated by Konoha, which took them south and east to disembark on a small jungle-covered island.

Because it was the Chuunin Exam, ships from all over the Elemental Nations had arrived at the same time, delivering genin from every village. Genma had quietly pointed out hitai-ate with strange symbols and told his students a bit about the villages they hailed from. Naruto and Lee had to force themselves not to tense at the more familiar sight of Kumo genin; under the truce of the Chuunin Exam, they weren't enemies outside of the testing times and places.

Looking around the beach where they were waiting, Naruto could see what looked like more than a hundred genin teams. The Konoha teams stuck together, as did the knots from other large villages, while the singlet or handfuls of teams from minor villages maintained distance and eyed everyone with mistrust.

"May I have your attention please," a loud voice boomed over the area. On the bow of the closest ship a man with blue hair, Kiri garb and an eyepatch over one eye appeared, speaking into a microphone. "All teams participating in this, the twenty-first Kiri-hosted Chuunin Exam, have now arrived. Welcome to the Land of Water! My name is Ao, and I will be the overall proctor of this exam."

Sai nudged Naruto, and then pointed to one of the other Konoha teams. Naruto saw Hinata Hyuuga twitch as the proctor introduced himself and saw a rare expression of genuine anger on her normally placid face.

"What's that about?" Naruto asked.

"Later," Sai mouthed with a grin.

"Every genin team here has arrived with a jounin sensei, but if any of you are to become chuunin, the time of relying on a teacher is over. Jounin, please return to your ships."

Genma clapped each of them on the shoulder. "I know you'll do well. Watch each other's backs and keep your eyes open. Keep in mind that even the other teams from Konoha won't always be your allies here," he murmured before joining the exodus of dozens of jounin back onto the ships, which immediately started sailing away; all except Ao's ship. Ao gestured to another man beside him, who unveiled a huge map that had been covered by a curtain. It showed their current location, as well as the waters and islands to the southwest.

"Now, I must apologize for a bit of subterfuge," Ao said with a shark's smile that didn't look apologetic at all. "You have been told that this island is the location of the exam you are to undertake. That is not the case. The Chuunin Exam's elimination rounds will be conducted here," he slapped a wooden rod on the corner of the map farthest from where they were, "on Whirlpool Isle. The First Round of this exam is simplicity in itself: each team present here today must be standing on Whirlpool Isle by sunset two weeks from today. How you make the trip is up to each team to determine. I look forward to seeing the best among you at the start of the Second Round."

With that, Ao's ship pulled away from the beach. "Well that explains why all the other ships were in such a hurry to leave," Naruto heard Sasuke comment to his team from nearby.

"What kind of a test is this?" Lee pondered.

"Not a fair one, which is probably the point. Chuunin have to get used to the real world not being fair," Sai commented, not looking up from the notebook he was furiously sketching in. "The Kiri teams probably already know different ways to make the trip; the Suna genin maybe not so much."

Naruto glanced down the beach to where the three teams from Suna had gathered. Because he was watching he saw one of them do something surprising. A short redhead, a pretty blonde and an older boy with a face covered in paint rose above the other genin teams on a platform of animate sand. They shot out over the water toward the ship that had brought them. Landing on the deck, the redhead actually started attacking the crew and the ship's shinobi defenders.

"Are they… hijacking their own ship?" Naruto said in disbelief. He could see blood flowing on the ship's deck. "They're actually killing their comrades!"

"Well, I guess that's one way to get a boat," Kiba commented, having overheard Naruto.

"Troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. "Don't suppose we could just stay here? This is a nice beach." Shikamaru actually sat down, stretching out on the sand.

"Oh hell no," Ino exclaimed angrily, poking Shikamaru with her toe. "Get that big brain of yours working! We need a way to get to that island."

Looking over Sai's shoulder, Naruto saw that his artistic teammate was sketching Ao's map from memory, and producing a surprisingly accurate replica. Naruto gestured subtly to Lee, and together they moved to block anyone else from seeing what Sai was doing. Once other teams realized that the map to their destination was gone they might try to take the one Sai was making.

Glancing around, Naruto saw the other Konoha teams had the same idea as Sai. Sasuke's sharingan was active, and the veins around Hinata's eyes bulged. Shikamaru appeared to be simply working from memory, and all three were making copies of the map Ao had displayed.

Sai, with his experience and quick hands, finished long before the others and stuffed the notebook inside his vest. Meanwhile, dozens of other genin teams around them were milling about. Some were headed down the beach, and others had disappeared into the jungle. A few of the teams from Kiri and Ame had even headed into – or onto – the ocean.

"It looked like that map showed a settlement on the far side of this island," Lee noted quietly. "Should that not be our destination?"

"Probably," Naruto replied. "There has to be some way off of this island."

"Even if there are ships to hire or take, there are certainly not enough for everyone," Sai noted, "but I agree we need to move." Sai shook his head when Naruto and Lee headed along the beach. "Not that way; through the jungle."

"Cutting through that will slow us down," Naruto noted dubiously, studying the thick undergrowth where the beach ended and trees began.

"Trust me," Sai replied.

Naruto and Lee exchanged a glance. "All right," Lee murmured. "You have a plan?"

Sai nodded before disappearing into the trees. Naruto and Lee followed. Unlike the forests around Konoha, the island's jungle trees didn't have large branches that they could use as an aerial highway. Instead they were forced to simply draw kunai and hack their way through the vines and brush.

They'd been travelling less than half an hour before they reached a small clearing where a large tree appeared to have fallen in a storm. Sai paused once they reached it. "We can stop here," he said.

Naruto blinked. "Shouldn't we get to that settlement before we rest? If we wait too long there might not be any ships left."

Sai shrugged. "True. But we should eliminate our pursuit first." He turned behind them and to the side. "You're all terrible at sneaking," he called out in a louder voice. "Please stop embarrassing yourselves."

A trio of genin melted out of the brush, and Naruto noted that they wore Kusa hitai-ate, marking them as ninja of Hidden Grass, Konoha's closest neighbor and ally. Two male and one female, they all had dark eyes and long emerald hair, and Naruto guessed that they were a few years older than him.

"You made a copy of the map," the larger of the male Grass genin growled at Sai. "Hand it over and you get to walk away in one piece."

"Yeah, that's not happening," Naruto replied. Predictably, the loudmouth lunged forward. He was pretty fast, but Lee was way faster, even with his training weights still on. The leading Grass genin's momentum reversed abruptly, and he hit the deadfall hard enough to crack it down the middle before slumping to the ground.

Naruto whistled. "Nice move!" Lee grinned and offered a thumbs-up as the other two Grass genin turned white as sheets. Inspecting the would-be map thief, Naruto noted that he was still breathing. "If you two get him to the town on the far side of the island, they might have medics or something," Naruto suggested. The Grass genin glared, but gathered their leader and retreated.

"So what are we actually doing here, Sai?" Naruto asked once they were alone.

Sai shrugged. "There's no real need for us to find a ship. We can get to the testing site without one." Across his back Sai wore a large scroll, one that he unfurled on a dry spot of ground.

Sai started drawing, and when Naruto saw what it was, he laughed. "Can that actually carry one of us?"

"It could probably carry all of us, but I'll make two just in case," Sai replied seriously, finishing his drawing of an albatross and animating it with his chakra. It climbed and flapped free of the page, growing as it did. "Range is more of an issue; the chakra I can spare to make these will only last for a few hours. The birds won't last long enough to reach Whirlpool Isle in one flight, but we can hop from one island to the next and rest in between. We should make it to the testing site fresh and with time to spare."

"Works for me," Naruto said, and Lee nodded in agreement. When two birds filled the clearing, Lee climbed on one while Naruto and Sai – being smaller and lighter – mounted the other. They took wing, flying southwest. Naruto chuckled at the shocked expressions of the genin on the beaches below as they soared out of sight. "Maybe we should have waited for night," Naruto shouted to Sai over the wind, "this tipped your hand a bit."

Sai shrugged. "True. But then, they don't have a clue what to expect from you and Lee. We'll be fine."


	34. Back to School

Chapter Thirty-Three: Back to School

* * *

Ginny Weasley made her way through Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley, checking the list of first-year textbooks and plucking the relevant tomes from the shelves, slipping them into her cauldron. She and her mother had made sure to get to the Alley early, and Ginny was pleased to find that the marked-down 'used' books sold back to the store were available for most of her subjects. Between that and the fact that she could re-use some of Ron's books – and knowing her brother, didn't have to worry about him having taken notes in them – Ginny anticipated a pleasingly small bill for her school supplies.

It didn't bother Ginny – as it did some of her brothers – that theirs was not the wealthiest wizarding family in Britain. She'd learned from her mother to make things like this a game in which the goal was finding the best deals and opportunities. Beyond that, nothing was going to impinge on her good mood. After watching one brother after another disappear off to Hogwarts, now she finally got to go herself! Even better, her brother Ron had somehow managed to become Harry Potter's best friend, so she was fairly confident she'd have the opportunity to get to know the 'Boy who Lived' as well.

When Ginny got to the checkout counter she could see her mother waiting outside the store. Smiling and waving, Ginny got in line. No sooner had she done so than a clerk opened up a new register and beckoned to her. He was a thin man with graying brown hair, and a smile crossed his narrow lips as he took the books from her and started ringing them up. "You must be a first-year, young lady," he commented as he perused the titles she was buying. "Are you looking forward to attending H-hogwarts?"

"Oh, very much so," Ginny replied with a grin. "Thank you for asking, sir."

"W-well then let's get you squared away," he said. The clerk told Ginny the total, and she counted the amount out carefully from the money her mother had given her. She handed it over, and the clerk leaned over the counter to slip the books back into her cauldron. He set them down a bit too firmly, however. Ginny's arms dipped and the cauldron spilled the books and its other contents onto the floor.

Looking mortified, the clerk stepped around the counter, helping her pick up her supplies and apologizing profusely. He checked to make sure her purchases were undamaged before handing them back. In the chaos, Ginny never noticed the one extra item she hadn't bought that wound up inside her cauldron. She departed the store with a friendly wave to the helpful clerk, and rejoined her mother for the trip to the train station to join her four older brothers on the Hogwarts Express.

* * *

Hermione stared morosely out the window of the Hogwarts Express as it sped across the English countryside. "Things like that are going to happen for the rest of my life, aren't they?" she asked quietly of no one in particular.

Ron and Harry exchanged a helpless look, because neither of them knew what to say. Their friend looked better than she had in the hospital; Hermione had regained the lost weight from her ordeal, and her hair had time to grow out a bit. It was still boy-short, but it wasn't a bad look at all. The sadness etched into her features, however, was an unwelcome change.

"Hermione, it's…" Harry sighed. "It probably isn't much comfort, but that wasn't even about you. When people are afraid… they don't think. They're scared for their kids, and they're too ignorant or misinformed to know that you're not dangerous."

Hermione glanced at Harry for a moment. "You're right, that isn't much comfort. But thanks anyways."

"Know what I noticed?" Ron chimed in. "None of the parents of anyone who actually knows you was there shouting or waving placards."

That did get Hermione to smile faintly for a moment. "Thank you, Ronald. At least Professor Lockhart was there. He really is amazing, isn't he?"

Ron made a face of comical distaste, while Harry managed to reply, "He's something, all right."

Harry hadn't expected to arrive at Platform 9 ¾ in the middle of a rather ugly confrontation. Over the summer word had gotten out that a Hogwarts student – and a Muggleborn, at that – had been attacked and turned by a werewolf. Decent, reasonable people might have expressed sympathy and moved on with their lives, but apparently a cohort of Pureblooded Hogwarts parents had gotten it into their heads that Hermione was now a danger to their children.

The sight of adult wizards and witches not only bullying his still-traumatized friend but actually trying to prevent her from boarding the train had made Harry's blood boil. He'd been halfway tempted to show them what a 'dangerous' Hogwarts student actually looked like, but help had arrived from an unexpected source.

In Diagon Alley Harry had spotted and avoided Gilderoy Lockhart, the celebrity author who was apparently the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He hadn't expected someone who seemed to admire himself that much to be taking the train with the students, so he'd been surprised when Lockhart stepped through the barrier shortly after he did.

What happened next was even more unexpected. Harry had watched the perfectly coiffed blond take in the scene at a glance before wading in. Inside of a minute he'd had the entire crowd of fearful parents in the palm of his hand, and within three he'd managed to assure every last one of them that their children would be entirely safe on his watch (and the Headmaster's of course), and managed to plug one of his best-sellers – Walking with Werewolves – at the same time.

Lockhart had topped off the performance by walking Hermione onto the train personally, making sure she was settled in and signing her copy of his autobiography 'Magical Me' before departing for another car where he was apparently due to sign more autographs.

* * *

 _THOOM!_ The ground shook with the impact of the Whomping Willow's thick branch on the spot where Harry had been crouched a moment earlier. The tree couldn't help but telegraph its swings, so avoiding the limbs hadn't been hard when he was on two feet. On four, it was even easier. Simply enjoying the challenge, Harry leapt over a horizontal swipe low to the ground, and then slid to the side as the original branch took another swing.

"Oh Harry, be careful!" Hermione called out, standing anxiously past the tree's range as dusk fell.

With the tree thoroughly distracted, a streak of red and brown flashed down from above and slipped with agility between the moving branches of the Whomping Willow. Ron alighted on the knot they'd been shown and jabbed it firmly with his beak. The Willow ceased its assault, its branches rising and going still, looking like a real tree for a time. Harry tossed his head at Hermione, and she cautiously stepped under the tree's branches. Ron hopped onto her shoulder as she stepped down into the concealed tunnel under the Willow, with Harry padding along at her heels.

The first full moon of the school year was just days after the Sorting, and as he entered the Shrieking Shack with his two closest friends, Harry felt an odd sense of dissonance at retracing his father's steps in one way he never would have wished. James Potter had made this trip many times with Remus, Sirius and Peter Pettigrew, the man who had eventually betrayed him to his death.

"I'm scared," Hermione confessed to Harry and Ron once they were inside the Shrieking Shack. "Isn't that silly? This isn't the first time, it's the third." She'd spent the last two full moons of the summer visiting Harry's house, and all five of them – Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius and Remus – had passed the nights roaming a nearby island nature preserve that was actually off-limits by law to Muggles and thus made an excellent place for werewolves to run free. This would be her first transformation without any of the adults around, however.

Sirius and Remus had been very clear on the rules of the Shrieking Shack: once inside, no leaving animal form. As a result neither Ron nor Harry could actually answer Hermione, which brought a wry smile to her face. "Here I am being silly; as though you can talk to me." Harry rubbed his head silently against her leg in response.

"Right," Hermione said with a deep breath, "might as well get this over with." Walking to the window, Hermione pulled the tattered drapes open and looked out the window. Clouds ruled the Scottish skies, and several minutes passed before they parted long enough to reveal the argent disc of the moon.

Hermione staggered back a few steps as her eyes turned from brown to yellow, clutching her head. "Merlin but I hate this," she growled through gritted teeth that lengthened and sharpened as she spoke. Fur the same rich brown as her hair erupted from her skin. Her bones popped and flexed as they grew. She'd shed her outer robes and shoes on arrival, and the cheap t-shirt and shorts she'd been wearing under them stretched and then shredded as the dark magic of the werewolf curse actually doubled her body's mass in seconds. Her spine bulged, arcing as she dropped to all fours and then lengthening into a long, furry tail.

When the change was complete Hermione's deep, harsh breathing was the only sound in the shack. Ron, perched on top of an old bookcase, watched as Harry padded forward cautiously, nudging Hermione's shoulder with his nose. Her wide, furred head rose and turned to Harry. Their predator's gazes met, her eyes almost glowing in the light of the moon.

There was no conscious thought in those eyes, only feral instinct, and Harry considered that Fenrir's gravest crime. _Hermione's the smartest person I know. It's not right that her mind should ever just vanish like this. I swear I'm going to kill Fenrir for what he did,_ Harry vowed silently.

The Shrieking Shack was large and mostly empty of furniture, leaving plenty of room for a mountain lion, a werewolf and a sparrowhawk to run, fly and play until they were all tired out enough to rest for the night. Once Hermione had fallen asleep, Harry used his teeth to cover her with the blanket they'd brought, knowing she'd return to normal around dawn. Ron found a comfortable roost, Harry curled up near Hermione, and they nodded off as well.


	35. Whirlpool Isle

Chapter Thirty-Four: Whirlpool Isle

* * *

Naruto found that he enjoyed the week-long trip across the archipelago that sat in between the nations of Water and Wave, unpopulated and unclaimed by either side for decades. Most of their time was spent on one deserted island after another along their meandering path southwest toward Whirlpool Isle.

Sai's ink birds were swift in the air, but he was still only a genin, and maintaining them drained him quickly. So they would fly for only an hour or two out of the day before finding a landing spot where Sai could eat, rest and recharge. Naruto and Lee passed the time sparring, training and exploring.

The sun was setting on the eighth day out from the starting location of the Chuunin Exam when a new island appeared on the horizon, much larger than any they'd seen so far. As they flew closer, Naruto could see a wall of jagged black basalt rising from the sea, forming coastal mountains high enough that they had snow-capped peaks in a few places.

"That is a huge island!" Naruto shouted over the roar of the wind.

"Well, it was home to Uzushio before the cataclysm that consumed it," Sai called over his shoulder.

Naruto blinked. "Uzushio? What's that?"

Sai turned slightly to stare. "You don't know..." he paused, and Naruto saw consideration behind those flat, dark eyes. "Of course you don't," he amended. "Just hang on, you'll see in a few minutes."

Their birds flew through a cleft in the rocks, and minutes later emerged into the interior of the island. The black basalt ridges and mountains ringed the entire island save for one gap to the south where water had gotten in and formed a small bay. Within were richly forested lowlands that teemed with life. Real birds filled the skies around them.

They'd passed through the barrier range on the north side of the island, and Sai silently directed the ink birds toward the bay to the south. As they neared, Naruto saw what Sai had alluded to, and just stared.

A city larger than Konoha had once sat on the eastern shore of the bay, but even from high above Naruto could tell that the city was no more. At one point, Uzushio had been dominated by huge towers of stone… and then those towers had fallen, crushing whole city blocks where they landed. The field of rubble was sobering just to look at, and when Naruto glanced at the other bird, he saw that Lee's face was tight and slightly pale. The city they were flying over had died a long time ago, Naruto could tell, judging by the vines, moss and saplings that were stubbornly reclaiming the crumbled, abandoned ruins.

As they flew Naruto was struck by how still everything was, so when there was a flicker of motion it caught his eyes immediately. Focusing, he saw a woman in white running down a ruined alley. She looked up for a moment, seemingly in his direction, and Naruto glimpsed a flash of pink hair before she disappeared into a crumbling doorway.

Naruto's heart leapt into his throat. _It can't be mom… but how many women with pink hair are there outside of Konoha?_ "Sai, we need to land over there!" Naruto pointed at the area where the woman he'd seen had vanished.

"There's no one in the ruins Naruto," Sai argued. "We need to find the rallying point to check in for the second round."

"No, I saw someone down there," Naruto insisted. "Someone… I think someone I know."

"I don't see anyone, Naruto," Sai said dubiously.

"Please Sai, it's important," Naruto said, thinking furiously. _Mom's strong; maybe she got away from the Akatsuki on her own! Or maybe this is where they took her if it's been remote and abandoned until recently._

Sai sighed and shook his head, but commanded the birds to circle back around and descend. Naruto pointed out where he'd glimpsed the woman, and Sai landed the birds on a large chunk of tower rubble nearby and above the narrow alley. "Okay, let's find this person you saw," Sai said, though Naruto could tell his teammate didn't expect to find anyone.

Naruto wasted no time sliding down a hill of debris and darting into the doorway he'd seen. It was dark enough that he took a moment to get out a small flashlight. Lee and Sai caught up as he switched it on and looked around. The passage was short and terminated in stairs that descended underground.

"Going in there is a bad idea, Naruto," Sai cautioned. "This whole place has been falling apart for decades. One wrong step in there and either the floor falls out from under you, or the ceiling falls _on_ you. There's no one here; we should go."

"Sai might be right," Lee added, eyeing the state of the architecture uneasily. "Are you sure you saw someone come in here?"

"I'm positive," Naruto said firmly. "This is something I have to do, but you guys don't have to come. You can stay here." Taking a deep breath, Naruto headed inside and down the winding spiral staircase. He heard footsteps behind him, and saw Lee and Sai following him, the latter with a look of resignation on his face. "Thanks," he murmured.

The stairs went down for a long time, and the air gradually grew colder. Eventually they ended in another corridor, one with walls of solid stone rather than cut blocks. "We're actually down in the bedrock of the island," Sai commented in surprise.

Naruto didn't reply, only forging onward. The tunnel gradually curved to the left, and after a while Naruto glimpsed a flash of bright hair and pale cloth. "There she is," he called out, breaking into a run.

"Naruto, wait up," Lee called out, but he didn't dare slow down. He couldn't hear footsteps ahead of him, but the tunnel only went one way.

The passage abruptly turned to the right, and when Naruto turned with it he slammed into a wall. He fell back with a surprised yell, dropping his flashlight. Sai and Lee had caught up again by the time he recovered it and got to his feet.

"This appears to be a dead end," Sai said neutrally, gesturing to the obvious ending of the tunnel, with no other branches at any point.

Naruto growled in frustration. "I know she was here," he said. "There must be some kind of door or hidden passage!"

Lee pressed his hands to the stone wall, pushing against it experimentally. "There is no give to this surface," he noted. He tapped his fist against it and listened to the sound. "Nor does it sound like there is any open space beyond."

Sai was clearly nearing the end of his patience. "There is no one here and no way forward, Naruto. Will you return to the surface now so we can get on with this exam?"

"I know she was here," Naruto complained, realizing he was repeating himself.

"Fine," Sai said in resignation. "If there is a secret passage I'll find it, and then be can be done with this." He got out his scroll and painted a few dozen mice that leapt off of the page and scattered in every direction beyond the light of their hand torches.

Naruto watched, not daring to hope, and after a minute saw a look of surprise cross Sai's face. "Well that's interesting," he said. "There is some kind of hidden door further back. We ran right past it." Sai collected his scroll and backtracked about fifty meters, shining his light on a point where an ink mouse was scrabbling against a blank section of wall. As they watched it melted back into liquid and slowly seeped through a nearly invisible crack at floor level.

"There must be some way to open this," Naruto said, excited anew. All three of them spread out and searched the tunnel around them. "That's odd," Lee commented after rubbing some dust off of the wall near the door. "The symbol on the back of Konoha's chuunin flak jackets is carved into the wall here."

Naruto and Sai joined him, seeing there was indeed a spiral in a circle at chest height etched into the basalt wall. "That symbol was only appropriated by Konoha," Sai noted. "It was originally the emblem of this city, Uzushio, when it was the home of Konoha's closest allies." He glanced to the side at Naruto for some reason.

"Maybe it's a switch," Naruto suggested. He reached out to push on the carving, but as soon as his fingers touched it the spiral lit up from the center, blue light spiraling out along the line and eventually illuminating the outer circle. The whole tunnel shook a bit, and the section of wall Sai's mouse had slipped through opened up into a wide doorway, revealing a new tunnel descending even deeper underground. Blue-green light filtered up from somewhere below.

Naruto descended cautiously. Lee and Sai followed, the latter now looking more curious than annoyed. The new passage wasn't long, and it soon opened out into what looked like a small natural cavern deep below the island's surface. Large stalagmites and stalactites formed natural columns, and the air was moist. Naruto could see cracks in the rocky ceiling that produced trickles of water.

"How is this place not submerged?" Sai wondered to himself. "We're well below the water table."

"No idea," Naruto replied. "But we're not swimming so let's see where that light's coming from."

In the center of the cave was a wide pool of water, and beds of algae growing beneath its surface were the source of the light that filled the cavern. All three shinobi turned off their flashlights, marveling at the natural wonder they had found.

Kneeling by the edge of the pool, Naruto leaned closer. He could see movement in the depths of the pool, and he was mesmerized by the sight of it. He felt like he could almost see faces deep in the water gazing back at him.

"Naru-" Lee's voice cut off suddenly as a flash of white light filled the cave for an instant before fading. Turning around, Naruto saw that Lee and Sai were standing perfectly still, their muscles relaxed and their eyes closed. Animated motes of pale light were circling their heads in errant, playful orbits.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" Naruto asked, concerned. Neither of them moved or responded.

Before Naruto could go to them, the woman he'd glimpsed twice stepped out from behind one of the stalagmites. "They are unharmed," she told him serenely, "they only slumber for a time. This place is not meant for their eyes."

Studying his quarry for a moment, Naruto's heart sank. She was definitely not his mother. The pale clothes she wore were an archaic style he'd never seen before, and the hair he had thought was pink was in fact crimson, propped above her head in an elaborate headdress that included paper tags that hung to either side of her head.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"Manners, young man," she chided. "Do you greet all of your elders that way?"

"Oh, umm… sorry ma'am," he apologized, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

She smiled, softening a severe face for a moment. "I am Mito Uzumaki," she answered his original question, "and you are young Naruto."

Naruto blinked. "How… have we met before?"

Mito shook her head slightly, setting the paper tags hanging from her headdress to swaying. "We have not, but you are known to me."

As Mito spoke, Naruto noticed for the first time that he could see the cave wall _through_ her body, and he swallowed hard. "Y-you're… a ghost?"

"Hmm. Not in the manner you imagine," Mito answered after a moment of consideration. "Think of me… as a memory. In this place," she gestured to the glowing pool, "many memories of the Uzumaki gather. Those whose blood can call the ancestral memories forth – like you, young man – may seek the wisdom of the departed here."

"So… I come from a clan that lived here in this city?" Naruto asked uncertainly.

Mito's face showed a moment of surprise. "Of course! Uzushio was the home of the Uzumaki before Konoha even existed! Were you not taught these things?"

Naruto winced. "I've… never heard of Whirlpool Isle before this week, and I didn't know about this city until we flew over it."

Mito shook her head sadly. "It is wrong that you should not know where and from whom you come. Gaze into the pool once more, and I will show you." Naruto complied, kneeling beside the glowing water once more. He felt Mito's wraithlike hand come to rest on his shoulder, light as a feather and only faintly warm.

"The Uzumaki were born from this land, and it made us strong. Other shinobi called us the 'Eternal' owing to our long lives, and envied our vitality and power." Mito whispered in his ear, and as she spoke he could _see_ dozens and then hundreds of people, most with red hair and blue eyes, tilling the land, sailing the seas, fighting battles and more.

"Uzushio was a center of commerce and shinobi knowledge before any Hidden Village was founded," Naruto glimpsed the city above. Not the crumbling ruin it was, but the living, bustling port city it had been.

"Our ancestors ruled wisely and well for generations, shepherding the prosperity of the people and breaking new ground in the manipulation of stored chakra. We created the discipline known as fuuinjutsu in other lands." Mito showed Naruto laboratories nestled in the proud stone towers where robed shinobi wrought marvels with ink, paper and chakra. For a moment he was reminded of Sai's ninjutsu.

"Yes," Mito whispered before he even spoke. "Your friend's art and many others found their genesis here."

The image in the pool shifted to the coast of the Land of Fire and the first meeting between roving Uzumaki travelers and the Senju clan. Naruto saw a young Mito, and an equally youthful man who resembled the first face carved into the Hokage Monument overlooking Konoha. He blinked in surprise to see them fighting in deadly earnest, a short and vicious battle that ended in the Uzumaki being driven back to their ships.

"That's the First Hokage!" Naruto exclaimed. "You fought him?"

"I did," Mito admitted with a smile. "Later, I also married him."

"What?" Naruto's jaw dropped.

Mito laughed. "Ours was a tumultuous courtship," she admitted, "but Hashirama and I found something to admire in each other's strength." The pool showed a more familiar vista next, and Naruto found himself looking upon Konoha when it was initially under construction. Senju, Uzumaki and others worked together to build it. He saw Mito and Hashirama poring over a table covered in blueprints and stealing a kiss when no one was looking.

In the next image Mito was much older, lying abed and talking to a young girl with the same vibrantly red hair and blue eyes. "Is that…" Naruto said slowly.

"That is Kushina, your mother." Mito confirmed. "I sent for her when I grew too old and frail to contain the Kyuubi anymore. It was a heavy burden I laid upon your mother, but she escaped the destruction that ravaged the city above, at least."

"What happened?" Naruto asked.

Mito was silent for a moment. "That memory does not exist in this place," she answered at last. "The death of Uzushio… the trauma of it marred the memory of the living and the dead. We cannot remember it."

One final image appeared in the pool. Mito lay still in her bed, her hair silver and her skin wrinkled and thin. A slightly older Kushina sat vigil at her bedside, holding an age-spotted hand in hers. There was a third person in the room, a handsome blond shinobi wearing armor under a pale coat with stylized flames along the hem. "Who… who is that?" Naruto whispered, because the man's face was hauntingly similar to his own.

Mito looked surprised again. "You don't know?" the shade sounded angry and horrified at the same time.

Naruto shook his head and felt the whispering edge of ancient rage that he sensed would paralyze him in place were it directed at him. "My husband's successors have served our alliance poorly in the wake of Uzushio's fall, it seems," Mito said at last. "That man's name is Minato Namikaze. He was your father."

Naruto just stared. "The Fourth Hokage… was my father?" he managed to ask at last, his voice cracking. "Why didn't anyone tell me?" _Did mom know? Why wouldn't she tell me about this?_

"I do not know," Mito replied sadly. "That is a question for the living." The shade started then, looking up at the cavern's roof. "Those who must not find this place approach," she hissed. "You must take your companions and be gone. Warn them not to speak of this place to anyone!"

"But… I have more questions," Naruto protested.

"Then return at another time! Ensure you are alone and not followed," Mito instructed him. Then she faded into thin air, and a moment later Lee and Sai stirred.

"-to, be care…ful?" Lee's words started up the syllable after they had been interrupted, only to find Naruto in a different place than he had been before.

"I'm fine Lee," Naruto said quickly. "I found what I was looking for," he added to both of them. "We can go find the exam site and get checked in now." Mindful of Mito's words, Naruto hustled them both out of the cave and back to the tunnels. No sooner had the hidden door slid shut behind them than they heard numerous footsteps. A trio of Mist shinobi wearing proctor's badges appeared, frowning at Naruto, Lee and Sai.

"So the spotters weren't crazy when they said someone entered the catacombs. What are you Leaf kids doing down here?" their leader demanded. "These ruins are dangerous!"

"I didn't hear any rules against scouting out the island if we arrived early," Naruto responded innocently.

The Mist ninja snorted. "That's because there aren't any," he conceded, "but a tunnel collapse will end your Chuunin Exam real quick-like. Get back to the surface and make your way to the testing camp. It's on the west side of the bay right by the water. It doesn't look like any of you have checked in yet."

"Right, we'll do that," Naruto replied quickly. "Thanks for the heads-up." The proctors shepherded them back to the surface. Naruto didn't say anything else until they were away from the Mist ninja and airborne. "Can you guys do me a favor and not mention that hidden door to anyone?"

"Of course," Lee replied immediately.

"What did you find?" Sai asked, glancing at his watch. "We appear to have lost more time than can be accounted for," he noted.

"I found some answers I was looking for," Naruto replied, deciding to trust his teammates. "The guardian of that place put you both to sleep for a little while, which I apologize for. When I go back, I'll do it alone."

"But you are going back," Sai noted.

"I have to," Naruto said. "I have more questions."


	36. Perspectives

Chapter Thirty-Five: Perspectives

* * *

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

"Wow, it's working!"

"Shut up… just shut up…" Ginny Weasley muttered to herself, too quiet to be heard by her enthused classmates. They were all having fun with their first Charms lesson, but Ginny just wanted the voices to stop. She'd had a headache all morning, and the babble filling the classroom was making it worse.

Ginny glared at Colin Creevey, sitting at the next desk over and shouting the spell enthusiastically. A moment later she heard footsteps, and looked up to see Professor Flitwick approaching her desk. "Are you having trouble with the lesson, Ms. Weasley?" he asked politely.

"No. I already know how to do this," Ginny snapped irritably.

Flitwick frowned at her, taken aback by her tone. "Then perhaps you'd care to demonstrate for the class how to levitate your feather?" he asked testily.

The pulsing pain in Ginny's temples was getting worse, but she raised her wand and spoke the words. "Wingardium Leviosa."

For a moment the feather on Ginny's desk didn't move, and a few of her classmates started snickering. "Well, Ms. Weasley," Flitwick started to say, sounding smug, "perhaps you…" his words trailed off as Ginny's entire desk – including her feather – rose into the air. The snickers turned to cries of alarm as three other desks nearby including Colin's were also lifted by Ginny's charm.

Ginny met Flitwick's stunned gaze under her floating desk. "Feather levitated," she murmured before slashing her wand to the side. All of the floating desks drifted back to the ground, landing softly and evenly.

The silence in the classroom was broken by the sound of the bells signifying the end of class. Ginny picked up her knapsack and left the room without another word, feeling every eye on her back as she left.

Losing herself in the flow of students moving between classes, Ginny absently fingered the coiling band of jade around her upper arm, hidden by the sleeve of her robe. It was a finely carved representation of an eastern dragon chasing its own tail. She didn't know how the bauble – which looked to be a bracelet, but was more like an armlet on her slender limb – had wound up in her cauldron following her trip to Diagon Alley, but that question mattered less to her with each passing day. It was hers now, and that was all that mattered. Her headache was mostly gone by the time she made it to her next class.

* * *

Rain pounded down on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch, reducing visibility and even drowning out the roar of the crowd in the stands. Harry felt like he was constantly flying through a cold shower as he pushed his Nimbus 2000 to its limits trying to keep the flickering, fleeing golden snitch in sight. He was distantly grateful that Angelina had showed him how to charm his glasses to repel water, because without that spell he'd be mostly blind.

Even with charmed glasses, his chances were still iffier than he would have liked. Catching a flicker of movement from the corner of his eye Harry shifted abruptly to the side, slamming his own body and broom into the other team's Seeker. It wasn't a maneuver he'd ever tried in his first year, though he'd gotten plenty of practice avoiding it – or nursing the bruises when he failed. But in his first year the other House team's Seekers had been three, four and six years older than him, respectively, and much too large to body check. Ravenclaw's new Seeker, however, was actually younger and smaller than Harry.

The first-year Seeker sailed off into the gloom and Harry got back on the chase for the elusive snitch. He'd been keeping a mental count in his head of the score announcements, since he couldn't see the score board through the downpour even if he'd risked looking away from the snitch. Gryffindor was up 130-40 over Ravenclaw. Angelina's offensive line simply had them outclassed, and Wood was the best keeper on any of the teams by a mile. Unfortunately, their lead hadn't passed 150 points yet, which meant he needed to grab the snitch before the other seeker.

The snitch abruptly dropped altitude and dove under some of the overhanging bleachers. Harry followed it, glad to be out of the rain for a moment. His peripheral vision showed him Ravenclaw's Seeker right on his tail. He caught up and made a grab for the snitch, but it bounced _up_ , between the support beams below the balcony, and Harry flew past it. Cursing under his breath Harry arrested his momentum and made a tight turn – only to stare in shock.

Ravenclaw's seeker had been a half second behind him, and he watched as she jumped _off_ her broom and up into the maze of thick wooden support beams. She was moving fast enough that she'd be badly injured if she hit any of them, but instead she threaded her slender body _through_ the obstacles, and her hand flashed out. A moment later she dropped back down onto her waiting broom with the snitch firmly captured in her hand. Madam Hooch – the only person who could see under the stands – blew the whistle. Harry heard groans from the Ravenclaw side and cheers from Gryffindor. He closed his eyes with a wince, listening as the sounds abruptly reversed sides once the results went up on the board. Final score: 190 Ravenclaw, 130 Gryffindor.

The teams made their way to the ground, and before the Ravenclaw team vanished into their locker room Harry saw them hoisting their Seeker up into the air and cheering her on. Ginny Weasley's hair was soaked and plastered to her head and robes, but her grin lit up her face.

In the corridor below the stands Harry could feel the rest of the Gryffindor team looking at him, and he winced. He knew he'd let them down. "What was that Potter?" Bernstein – the backup Seeker – demanded, shoving Harry against the wall. "I thought you were always hot shit. How'd you get beat by a little girl?"

Already tired and irritated, Harry fantasized for a moment about breaking the older boy's wrist while it was so conveniently resting on his shoulder, but he let it stay merely a pleasant thought. "She jumped into the scaffolding at speed; didn't think she had the confidence or the skill to do that."

"Isn't flying like a pro supposed to be your bailiwick, Potter?" Bernstein jabbed with an open sneer.

"Bernstein, shut up," Wood interjected wearily, physically forcing the larger boy a step back from Harry. "The other team got the snitch first, it happens. Harry's not the one you should be snapping at." With that Wood rounded on Fred and George, his expression darkening. "What the hell were you two playing at out there? Ravenclaw's team is the best it's been in years, and we all need to be on our best game. Potter needed your support and he wasn't getting it."

"What's that supposed to mean, captain?" Fred demanded. "We kept the bludgers off of the offense, didn't we?"

"Yes, but you didn't deflect the bludgers toward their Seeker; you gave up multiple chances to do so. She's good and she faced no pressure. You noticed, I trust, that Ravenclaw's beaters weren't showing Potter the same consideration?"

"Captain…" George said slowly.

"Look, I get it," Wood sighed. "She's your little sister, and you don't want to see her get hurt, but…"

"But nothing," Fred interrupted. "Even if we weren't obligated to look out for the miserable little brat, do you know what our mother would do to us if she broke an arm or worse and we were the ones that sent the bludger winging her way?"

"Like I said, I get it," Wood growled, "but if you're not going to play as well as I know you both can, you'll be on the bench for the next Ravenclaw game." Wood looked around grimly, meeting everyone's eyes in the sudden silence. "Get cleaned up and dried off, all of you."

Harry headed into the showers, feeling sympathy for Fred and George even if they had been holding back. He knew all four of the Weasley boys at Hogwarts were perplexed by their sister's actions since arriving at Hogwarts. The Sorting Hat had shocked everyone in the Great Hall by placing Ginny in Ravenclaw, and she'd left her brothers a little hurt by how eagerly she'd taken to her house. Ron kept saying things like 'first Weasley in generations'. Reading between the lines of their reactions, Harry got the sense that Percy, Fred and George were more confused by Ginny's sudden prodigy status. She was leaps and bounds ahead of the other first-years in spell-casting skill and power, her athletic prowess was astounding, and professors were already comparing her to Dumbledore as a youth.

When Harry emerged from the locker room the rest of the team had already dispersed, but someone else was waiting for him. Suppressing a groan Harry tried to slip out the back, but he was spotted before he could make good his escape. "Harry my boy, just the fellow I was hoping to see!"

Harry forced a smile. "Hello, Professor Lockhart," he managed politely. In spite of the chill and pouring rain outside, Gilderoy Lockhart's appearance was as immaculate as ever, his golden curls almost shining even in the dim hallway lights, and his tailored outfit dry without anything out of place. Given that he wore only a stylish cape rather than the cloaks most of the game's attendees had donned, Harry was mildly curious to know what kind of spell the man used to preserve his appearance. He got an answer a moment later when they got outside and Lockhart silently cast a spell that caused the falling rain to _bend_ around them both.

"That was a great hustle out there, my boy," Lockhart barreled on.

"Not great enough to win," Harry replied glumly.

Lockhart clapped him on the shoulder with a sympathetic smile. "Come now Harry, don't be so hard on yourself! No one comes out on top one hundred percent of the time, not even me. Why, when I was but a young man roaming the world, there was this time in Andhra Pradesh – that's in India, my boy – when I met this band of local wizards who played-"

"Can I help you with something, professor?" Harry interjected as politely as he could, knowing that Lockhart was about to go off on another rambling story about himself like the ones that took up half of every Defense Against the Dark Arts class. "It's late, and I have homework to do before bed."

"Ah, of course," Lockhart murmured. "I won't keep you long, my boy, but I was actually going to offer you some help with your current problem." Lockhart beckoned and headed back toward the school.

Relieved that they were at least headed in the right direction, Harry walked alongside him. "What problem do I have, professor?" he asked.

"Why, an upstart stealing your thunder, of course," Lockhart replied with a look of mild reproach at Harry. "Fame is a fickle mistress, Harry, and if she is not appeased with alacrity, she may abandon you for a newer face. If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that the process of maintaining one's public profile is a constant battle against encroachment."

Harry took a moment to absorb that. Not for the first time, he wondered why it was that Lockhart though he _cared_ about being famous. It was true that Ginny had eclipsed Harry as Hogwart's 'young prodigy', but he honestly didn't mind. "Professor…" Harry began in exasperation.

"There are ways to ensure that one stays on top, my young protégé," Lockhart continued with the subtlety of a conversational bulldozer. "Why, there are secrets here at Hogwarts lost to time that would earn considerable accolades for the one who unearths them."

"Professor, I don't-" Harry protested.

"Or if mere fame is not enough, you could reprise the role of hero," Lockhart added slyly. "After all, some of this school's secrets are quite dangerous, especially to unaware students."

Harry's eyes narrowed and he stopped walking, studying Lockhart. "Professor, if you're aware of a threat to the student body shouldn't you be informing the Headmaster?"

Lockhart grinned. "Oh come now Harry, don't be so dramatic. My research indicates that the Chamber of Secrets is currently no danger at all; it's been sealed off for decades. Locating and opening the Chamber is an expedition I'd intended to undertake, but I'm not averse to sharing its glories with a capable young wizard such as yourself. Just imagine the headlines!"

"What is the Chamber of Secrets?" Harry asked, curious despite himself.

"Why, the hidden sanctum of Salazar Slytherin, one of the school's founders, chock full of his greatest – and most dangerous – treasures," Lockhart replied innocently.

Harry blinked. "What makes you think something like that exists, or that you can find it if generations of Headmasters didn't?"

Lockhart offered Harry a conspiratorial smile. "I know it exists because it was last opened when I was just a lad like you. Look it up in the library if you doubt me. As to how I intend to find it…" Lockhart tapped the side of his nose with a sly look. "Well, you can't expect me to share all of my secrets before I know if you're even on board."

Harry studied Lockhart warily. It was true he wouldn't be averse to a challenge to test himself, but he also didn't trust Lockhart. "You're aware, professor, that your predecessor took me into his confidence, cultivated my trust… and then tried to kill me?" Harry asked quietly.

Lockhart drew back with an expression of mild horror. "So mistrustful, Harry," he exclaimed. "Well there's no need for such suspicion of Gilderoy Lockhart! I am entirely above board. If you wish, feel free to discuss my offer with the Headmaster. I've already told him that I intend to uncover the Chamber while I'm here at Hogwarts, and I might enlist a capable student or two as assistants. I am the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, after all. Whatever Salazar left behind in that crypt, 'dark' probably isn't the half of it."

"I see," Harry murmured.

"Let me know if you're interested Harry, but don't wait too long," Lockhart replied airily as they stepped through the school's main doors. "Time is a factor here, and if you're not game, I might have to see if young Miss Weasley is more inclined to a bit of adventure."

Harry stilled at that. Ginny was certainly proving to be capable, but she was young, she didn't have his training… and she was his best friend's little sister. "That won't be necessary," Harry replied. "If Headmaster Dumbledore approves this… internship… I'll take it."

"Splendid," Lockhart beamed. "I'll let you know where we'll get started after class next time I see you. Until then, be well."

Harry watched Lockhart go with bemusement. _Well, there's no way he can be as bad as Quirrell. This might even be fun if he's not just full of hot air and there really is a Chamber of Secrets._ Making his way back to Gryffindor Tower, he was – for once – unaware of a pair of curious eyes watching him from the shadows of Hogwart's corridors.


	37. Conflicting Agendas

Chapter Thirty-Six: Conflicting Agendas

* * *

"Sai, you know things about me that I don't," Naruto said quietly. Lee was already asleep in the large tent they'd been given after checking in for the second round of the Chuunin Exam, and Sai looked up from his book at Naruto's words.

"What makes you say that, Naruto?" Sai asked, closing his book.

"You weren't surprised that I didn't know about Uzushio despite the fact that every other Konoha genin here except Lee does," Naruto replied, "and you knew that the spiral in a circle wasn't just the mark of Uzushio but of the Uzumaki; my ancestors."

"Let's say I did know those things," Sai said. "What of it?"

Naruto's hands curled into fists in frustration. "Why didn't you tell me? We've been teamed together for months now!"

Sai considered that. "If I tried to tell you everything I know that you don't, Naruto, I would be talking for a very long time. We would probably miss the start of the Second Round. Beyond that, the information about your heredity wasn't relevant before we arrived here; prior to that I assumed you knew the relevant details of this place and your connections to it."

Naruto exhaled slowly, forcing down his irritation. He and Lee had almost come to blows with Sai when he first joined the team over the pale boy's blunt statements that could often be taken as insults. He reminded himself that unlike Neji, Sai wasn't actually trying to put them down. "Do you know who my father was?" Naruto asked.

"No," Sai replied immediately. "I don't know _everything_ , Naruto."

"Okay," Naruto sighed.

"Is information about your father something that you found down in that cave?" Sai inquired.

Naruto lay back on his cot with a sigh. "Yeah…"

"Was there actually someone living down there?" Sai asked. "I didn't see any books or scrolls in that cave."

"'Living' is an exaggeration," Naruto replied, "but yes, I met someone down there who told me some things I didn't know. Once I have an opportunity, I'll be going back to learn more."

Sai shrugged. "All right." He leaned back on his own cot. "Well, sunset tonight is the deadline for the first round, so we should rest and be ready for whatever happens." Taking his own advice, Sai closed his eyes, and his breathing slowed.

Once Naruto fell asleep, Sai's eyes snapped open and he rose on silent feet, slipping out of the tent their team had been assigned. He didn't go far; his destination was less than a hundred yards away. Lifting the flap of another tent, he entered without hesitation and was greeted by a trio of older Iwa genin who drew weapons as soon as they saw his hitai-ate. "You're very lost, runt," one of them growled. "Beat it before you get hurt."

Sai didn't respond verbally, only opening his mouth and extending his tongue as far as it would go. What the Iwa genin saw in the flickering light of their lantern made their faces go as pale as Sai's. Their weapons disappeared as quickly as they had been drawn. "Apologies," the same genin muttered. "We weren't briefed on the identity of the primary asset. What do you need?"

"Nothing that will risk your cover," Sai replied calmly. "Only a small task to further our master's interest, to be carried out under the cover of the exam's Second Round." Sai told the three older genin what he needed them to do, and then left. He was back in his bed just minutes after he'd left it, hopefully with no one the wiser.

* * *

"All right punks, listen up!" The speaker was a woman with a wild mane of red hair that fell almost to her ankles, twin blades sheathed at her waist, and teeth filed to points like a shark's. "My name's Ringo Ameyuri and my job is to send as many of you sniveling brats home crying to your mommies as I can!"

Naruto glanced around the crowd of genin standing outside of the small tent city that formed the exam camp on Whirlpool Isle. The sun was setting behind the mountains to the west, which meant the assembled were all that had made it before time ran out. It was a much smaller crowd than the one that had listened to Ao's speech two weeks earlier. Four Konoha teams had made it. Naruto, Lee and Sai had arrived by air first. Sasuke, Kiba and Shikamaru's teams had arrived together several days later, aboard the same ship that they had apparently banded together to hijack from a group of Cloud genin.

Four Kiri teams, two Iwa teams, and one team each from Kumo and Kusa had made it in time as well. Oddly, the Suna team that had hijacked their own exam transport was not on the beach, and Sai had quietly noted that the strange team from the new village called Oto was missing as well, even though they'd flown over the ship that the ominous trio of genin had single-handedly captured and set out with.

"I'm looking at twelve genin teams right now and you lot are the sorriest sight I've laid eyes on in a long time. The good news is most of you won't be stinking up Whirlpool Isle with your mediocrity for much longer!" Ringo continued with a vicious grin. Taking a step back, she pulled a cloth off of a table beside her, revealing an orb of glass or crystal about the size of a fist. Its left half shone with an inner light bright enough that it hurt to look at directly, while the right half was pitch black, actively _eating_ the light that touched it.

Sai nudged Naruto and Lee, pointing away from Ringo. Following Sai's gaze Naruto noticed points of white light at different locations in the distance. "They appeared as soon as she pulled back that sheet on the table," Sai whispered.

"What you miserable little pukes are looking at is the objective of the second round," Ringo informed them. "This is a Tide Stone. A full genin team with all three members ambulatory must present an intact Tide Stone to me to pass this round. There are six Tide Stones scattered across the island; not enough for everyone, you might notice. Well tough! First six teams to complete the objective get to advance. The rest of you get to go home; so kind of a win-win situation for me."

Abruptly, one of the Kusa genin threw out her hands toward the table. Strands of grass shot from her sleeves, wrapping around the orb and yanking it into toward waiting hands. The movement was fast, but Ringo was much faster. Naruto didn't even see her draw the swords at her hips, but they blurred through the air with a 'crack' of thunder, shredding the grass tendrils and shattering the Tide Stone. The pieces fell to the ground, light and dark fading from the halves. The Kusa genin staggered back, shaking arms that appeared to have gone numb from electrical feedback.

"Nice try kid, and fast thinking," Ringo said as she sheathed her blades, "but that was just the demonstration model. You're all going to have to work for this test. Now, beyond presenting your Tide Stone with a full team in tow there's only one rule for this round. This camp and the area immediately surrounding it are 'safe' ground. The perimeter is marked by the fences you can see ringing the area. Inside the fence, no stealing and no fighting; if you make it back here with a Tide Stone you're home free. Outside the fence, anything goes. If someone beats you to a stone or you see someone heading back here with one? Fight them and take what's theirs. Oh, and since we're on this little island, after… hmm… three days? Yeah, three days is how long you get to get back here with a Tide Stone. After that everyone's disqualified." Ringo paused for a moment, and when no one moved, she made a shooing gesture with her hands. "Well? Get lost. Clock's ticking!"

Most of the assembled teams headed inland toward the three points of light visible in that direction. One was on top of a distant mountain, one coming from deep in the jungle, and one from atop a half-collapsed tower in the city ruins. Two teams – both from Kiri – headed for the water, where a fourth shining stone was visible on the bottom of the bay. The last two Tide Stone's locations weren't immediately obvious.

"We should put our speed to use and head for the stone in the mountains or jungle," Lee said to Naruto and Sai as they paused just short of the fence. The other teams had halted as well, realizing that the first past the fence would be risking an attack from behind.

"A workable plan," Sai agreed, "but it will have to be foot speed. My birds are not resilient, and if they were dispelled by an attack from below we would fall to our deaths."

"Okay, let's do it. On three: go!" Naruto, Lee and Sai broke past the fence, heading for the trees. Naruto tensed for an attack, but instead the dam broke and all the other teams started running as well, some heading for the mountains or ruins. Naruto noted from the corner of his eye that Sasuke and Kiba's teams were heading into the forest as well. Shikamaru's team was the only one heading for the orb in the city – probably because it was the closest, knowing Shikamaru. Sasuke's older teammates weren't as fast as he was, however, and Kiba was limited by Shino and Hinata's slower foot speed. Naruto's team soon outpaced the others and made it into the jungle ahead of anyone else.

Reaching the Tide Stone turned out to be fairly easy from there. Naruto, Lee and Sai kept up a full run all the way to the source of the light, what appeared to be a ruined temple deep in the jungle. The shining orb itself was located in an open chamber atop the highest tower. "Sai, you're the best at wall climbing," Naruto said. "Lee and I will keep an eye out."

Sai nodded and headed up the outer walls of the temple while Naruto and Lee watched the jungle. It was noisy with nighttime predators and very dark, only the moon's light illuminating the clearing around the temple. Sai was still climbing when three foreign genin burst from the trees and charged Naruto. They were from Kumo, and all three had blades bared crackling with electricity. One of them broke off to intercept Lee when he moved to assist Naruto, while the other two attacked together.

Naruto drew a pair of kunai and ran wind chakra down the blades, using them to block the first strikes. The Cloud genin appeared surprised that Naruto wasn't electrocuted by meeting their charged steel with his, but they adapted quickly, and even if they couldn't shock him their longer blades and numbers gave them an undeniable advantage.

A quick glance showed Naruto that Lee was having trouble as well. His one opponent appeared to be the most skilled of the trio, his blade flickering and keeping Lee – who had no means to deflect the electrified blade – on the defensive. "Sai, we could use some help down here!" Naruto called out.

Moments later the Cloud ninja attacking Lee jumped back when a shadow fell over him, narrowly escaping the claws of an ink tiger that landed where he had been standing. One of Naruto's opponents wasn't so fast or lucky, and went down screaming with another of the simulacrum beasts' jaws closing around his neck. Naruto's other attacker took one look at that and ran screaming. Lee's opponent looked disgusted at that, but retreated as well.

When Sai's tiger pulled back there was blood coating its black and white jaws, and Naruto swallowed hard. _Guess it was necessary…_ "They were targeting you," Sai said to Naruto clinically as he leapt to the forest floor with the shimmering Tide Stone in hand.

Naruto shrugged. "I've made enemies in Kumo," he replied with a sigh. "It's not unexpected. So we've got a Tide Stone, now how do we get back to the proctor with all the other teams coming up behind us?"

"For starters, we don't stay here," Lee said immediately. "Let's head further north and then loop around to the east or west instead of running into the teeth of potential ambushes?" Noting the looks of surprise on Naruto and Sai's faces he grinned. "I am eager to test my strength against our youthful adversaries from other villages, but there will be time enough for that in the next round. For now, our mission is to protect that orb and get it back to the client along with ourselves."

"Well said," Sai acknowledged.

Lee nodded, and they were off. Cutting north and away from the direction of the beachside camp, counterintuitive as it seemed, paid off. Naruto, Lee and Sai avoided any further contact with other teams, and on finding a secluded grove near a stream got a few hours of rest. The sun was in the sky when they set out again, arcing west and south in the hopes of avoiding any further confrontation.

Naruto was starting to hope that they might make it back to the proctor without any further fights. That, of course, was when the ambush came. It started with a startled yell from Lee, who was running in the rear guard. Naruto and Sai turned to see their teammate sinking into the ground, already past his knees.

Before they could react to that a twin roar like a pair of chainsaws came from the underbrush behind Sai, and a pair of human-sized whirling spears exploded into view. Sai's agile leap barely carried him to safety as the tree he'd been standing next to was shredded into kindling.

Naruto saw a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye, but even as he started moving a finger jabbed into his lower back and he fell to one knee, sudden numbness radiating out from the site of the attack. He staggered back onto his feet in time to bat aside another hand jabbing at his neck, and his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of an apologetic look on Hinata Hyuuga's pretty face. "Ano… sorry about this, Naruto." She attacked in earnest, putting Naruto on the defensive with more testing jabs of the Gentle Fist. His legs were only half listening to him after her opening strike, and if anything she'd gotten faster since their time in the academy.

Trying to stall as feeling slowly returned to his legs, Naruto fell back from Hinata's furious assault. It was really hard, and one tap he didn't avoid entirely numbed his left arm from the elbow down. Recognizing a desperate situation, Naruto concealed his right hand long enough to form a wind bomb – just a little one that would explode and stun Hinata, but wouldn't badly injure her. He threw it at too close a range to dodge, but Hinata – looking slightly guilty – sliced her hand through it, and the chakra forming the bomb dissipated harmlessly. Naruto kicked himself a moment later. _Right, she has the byakugan. Of course she saw me doing that._

Understanding that he was going to have to get serious, Naruto shook some feeling back into his left hand and then lashed out with both arms. Half a dozen large wind blades sliced out, each one carving clean through a tree trunk around Naruto and Hinata, angled upward so that all the trees fell inward toward them. Hinata's eyes widened in alarm and she scrambled to dodge as Naruto did the same. He narrowly avoided being crushed, but emerged unscathed, panting on top of the pile of splintered, fallen wood.

Looking around, Naruto didn't see Hinata until something passed between him and the sun above. He looked up just as Hinata completed a graceful flip through the air from the crown of a tree that was still falling… and landed with her feet on his shoulders, sending them both tumbling down the pile of fallen trees. She held on as they rolled and tumbled, her small hands flickering. They were scratched, bruised and muddy when they came to rest, but Hinata climbed to her feet with a wince while Naruto found he couldn't move at all. Then she jabbed a finger into his neck, and everything went black.

* * *

Rock Lee noted the multi-pronged attack, but was focused on his more immediate problem: the quicksand he was sinking into. His fellow Leaf genin had done an admirable job of covering the quicksand bog with leaves and a thin layer of soil to hide it until he was right in it. His training weights were working against him suddenly, pulling him down into the sucking morass at an alarming rate.

Spotting a vine hanging from a branch above Lee grabbed it, but before he could pull himself loose a kunai whistled out of the shadows at the crown of a nearby tree and severed it. Following the trajectory of the throw Lee saw the glint of dark glasses as hidden eyes observed him. "The more you move, the faster you'll sink. Why? Quicksand is much denser than water," Shino Aburame informed him.

Lee didn't waste any energy replying. He opened the first Inner Gate, intending to use it to jump free once his feet met something solid – but no sooner had the chakra filled his body than it was ripped away, leaving him gasping and weak. Hundreds of kikai bugs that had been hiding in the quicksand swarmed over Lee, consuming the Inner Gate chakra as fast as his body produced it until he had to give up.

* * *

Sai was peripherally aware of his teammates' troubles, but he had no opportunity to assist them. He'd read Kiba Inuzuka's file, but facing two whirling tornadoes of fangs and claws homing in and trying to tear him apart was very different from a mere description. The whirring noise was both deafening and aggravating, and he had no time to form ink beasts to assist him. Sai relied on nothing more than his native agility and Root training to stay alive.

"You know how to do more than dodge?" Kiba asked at one point when taking a break from his attack.

Sai moved warily, keeping his eyes on both Kiba and Akamaru, who was trying to circle behind him. He didn't bother answering the taunt. He could think of two different ways to deal with the young Inuzuka. Unfortunately both methods involved lethal ninjutsu proprietary to Root. Danzo would not be pleased if he used either openly, especially while under the eyes of a Hyuuga and an Aburame, two clans who already knew more about Root than Danzo would have preferred.

Less than a minute later neither Lee nor Naruto was moving, and Shino had thrown a weighted wire around Lee's arm, holding onto the other end to keep him from sinking further into the quicksand. "You should surrender," Shino said. "Your teammates cannot continue the fight."

Panting, Sai considered his remaining options. He doubted he could defeat all three of the opposing genin, certainly not without killing them, another outcome Danzo would frown on. When it came down to it, keeping Naruto alive and an asset to Konoha was his mission, not making him a chuunin. Sighing, Sai raised his hands. Kiba grinned, and the last thing Sai saw was the Inuzuka's fist heading for his face.

* * *

Naruto woke up bound hand and foot. Looking around, he could see Lee and Sai in a similar state. He also spotted a kunai buried in the ground on the far side of the clearing, one with a Hyuuga maker's mark on the hilt. He supposed he should be grateful to Hinata, but mostly he was pissed. Crawling over to it and sawing through the ropes took several minutes. Freeing Lee and Sai took longer. Sai had a black eye and turned out to be slightly concussed, while Lee – who barely had any chakra to start with – was drained and weak from both Shino's bugs and the aftermath of opening an Inner Gate. The Tide Stone was of course gone from Sai's pack.

Tracking down Team Kurenai and taking back the stone was out of the question. Even if they weren't all beat up, they weren't specialists at tracking. While Sai could quickly search a small area, their only hope of following Hinata, Kiba and Shino would be taking to the air, leaving them dangerously exposed.

"We'll rest for now and then see if we can locate one of the hidden Tide Stones," Naruto concluded as night fell. He'd gotten their tents set up, made a fire in a deep pit to hide their location, and heated up some soup for dinner. "Assuming you guys will be okay after a night's rest."

Sai nodded silently. Lee struggled into a sitting position. "Don't worry about me, Naruto. My youthful strength is already returning!" His face fell slightly. "Gai-sensei will be most disappointed by my poor showing. When we return to Konoha I will-"

"Hey," Naruto interrupted. "Don't get down. We all got gob-smacked. Those three set up a hell of an ambush." He sighed. "I'll never hear the end of this from Kiba unless we get another Stone and kick their asses in the final."

"I like that plan, Naruto," Sai said, his dark eyes glittering with something like menace. "I did not enjoy that encounter."

Naruto grinned weakly. "We'll get some payback eventually. For now, sleep; concussions are no joke. I'll keep watch."


	38. Ruin

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Ruin

* * *

The morning after Team Kurenai's ambush Naruto, Lee and Sai set out cautiously to see if there were any more Tide Stones left to locate. Climbing a tall tree during the night had confirmed to Naruto that all of the visible Tide Stones were gone and presumably claimed, but the proctor Ringo had specifically said that there were six, and only four had been visible. On the plus side, that meant the last two might still be out there, waiting to be found. But that also meant other luckless teams would be searching as well.

"Given the amount of light the Tide Stones create, it stands to reason that the last two are hidden," Naruto mused.

"Unfortunately, that doesn't narrow our options a great deal," Sai murmured. "The mountains ringing the island are probably riddled with caves. The proctors could have buried a stone. Or they could have simply put a stone in a box and put the box in the crown of one of these trees."

Naruto nodded slowly, and then smiled as something occurred to him. "There's one other place to hide a shiny Tide Stone that we've already been."

Lee got it first. "You speak of the tunnels below the ruined city?"

"Exactly," Naruto exclaimed. "Think about how quickly those Mist proctors found us down there; what if they reacted so fast because we were near one of the sites where they planned to hide a Tide Stone? They may have even already placed it."

Sai frowned. "It's a thin lead to go on," he said dubiously. "They may have just seen us land, as they claimed. We are far from the ruins of Uzushio, Naruto. If we go there, we won't have time to search anywhere else."

"That's true," Naruto agreed, "but I think we have just as good a chance there as anywhere else, and the other teams probably cleared out of the ruins once the visible stone on that ruined tower was claimed."

"We could split up and cover more ground that way," Lee suggested. "A hidden stone is less likely to be fought over than the ones that everyone knew the location of."

Sai shook his head after a moment. "Too dangerous," he decided. "If you're sure about this Naruto, we should go to the ruins together." He offered Naruto a piercing glance. "Are you sure this isn't about that cave below the tunnels?"

Naruto shook his head. "No… I'm going to go back, but the exam comes first. C'mon, let's get moving."

Team Genma traversed the island swiftly, exiting the jungle and crossing abandoned, overgrown farmland beyond before cautiously entering the ruins of the great city. Sai started dispatching waves of ink mice, while Naruto and Lee searched for passages underground in other directions. After most of a day, however, they'd had no luck. Every basement and tunnel they could find was collapsed, and Sai's mice confirmed that there was no way for someone human-sized to get past the rubble without a lot of earth ninjutsu.

"There may not be anything here," Sai admitted as the sun started dipping lower in the sky.

"I'm not giving up yet," Naruto replied stubbornly.

"Yosh! The fires of our youth will not be so easily quenched!" Lee agreed.

Sai sighed. "That tunnel we found when we arrived may be the only one in the whole city that hasn't collapsed for lack of maintenance."

Naruto blinked. "Wait a minute… that's it Sai!" he exclaimed.

Sai shook his head. "We explored that whole tunnel, Naruto," he reminded his teammate. "It had no outlet save for that hidden cave-"

"No, I don't think there's a Tide Stone down there, but there is the guardian," Naruto said with a grin. "She knows a ton about this island; she might know where the best places to hide something would be!"

"Naruto, wait!" Sai called out, but Naruto was already off, with Lee close behind. The spot where he'd seen Mito's phantom disappear underground wasn't far, but when Naruto arrived he skidded to a stop, staring in dismay. "No… what happened?" he cried out.

The stairway leading down into the earth was gone, completely collapsed with only a pile of fresh rubble to mark where it had been. "No, no, no," Naruto muttered, falling to his knees and trying to dig through the rubble with his hands. "It can't be gone… I still have so many questions!" Lee started helping Naruto move stone without comment, but when Sai arrived and sent ink mice down through the cracks, he shook his head after several minutes.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," Sai said quietly. "The collapse extends all the way to the bottom; it would take a major excavation to get back down there."

"How did this happen?" Naruto lamented, scrubbing at his eyes with a dusty sleeve to ward away the tears that threatened. He'd been so close to all the answers he wanted about his birth family. Mito could have told him so much more!

Lee, examining the collapse, frowned slightly. "Naruto… this cave-in is not natural. Look at it; we've seen something like this before."

Looking to where Lee was pointing, Naruto saw it too. All the fresh damage to the stone was uniform, the breaks in the rock too regular to be the result of an impact or natural subsidence. They had seen a tunnel collapse like this before, on the war front. They'd found a Kumo-built tunnel across the border, and one of the shinobi travelling with them – a creepy kunoichi with purple hair named Anko Mitarashi – had waited until Kumo was sending a team through the tunnel before using earth ninjutsu to collapse the whole thing on their heads. The rubble left behind had looked a lot like what Naruto was now seeing. "Who would do this?" Naruto asked, bewildered.

"There were most likely several battles in these ruins over that visible Tide Stone," Sai suggested. "One of those clashes may have been close enough to here that a stray jutsu collapsed the tunnel."

Naruto lowered his head with a sigh. "Well, I guess you were right then," he muttered. "This was a waste of time."

Lee's hand fell on Naruto's shoulder. "We still have another day," he said encouragingly. "We can keep looking tomorrow."

"Unfortunately there's no point anymore. We're leaving." All three genin looked up to see Genma walking down the street, a grim look on his face.

"Sensei, what are you doing here?" Naruto exclaimed. "What do you mean 'leaving'? We've still got time to find a Tide Stone!" It occurred to Naruto that all of the stones might have been turned in already.

"Word just came through summoned messengers," Genma replied. "Konoha's under attack. Kumo, Suna and Oto have attacked the village directly while our best genin teams were all half a world away."

"What?" Lee exclaimed, looking stunned. Naruto had thought being told their exam had ended was a gut punch, but this was so much worse.

 _Haku's in Konoha! But he'll be okay; he's strong,_ Naruto reassured himself.

"We're leaving, now," Genma continued. "Our ship's ready to depart, and the other jounin sensei are collecting their teams as well. C'mon."

Reunited, Team Genma wasted little time heading for the port. As they were boarding the ship that had brought them to the testing site, the other teams started trickling in. Sasuke and his teammates arrived first, the latter pair grousing about having to leave after successfully retrieving a Tide Stone. Shikamaru, Ino and Choji showed up next. Ino's arm was in a sling and her face so heavily bruised that she was barely recognizable. Shikamaru and Choji were both bruised and bandaged as well, but mostly they both just looked furious, flanking Ino protectively as they boarded and immediately went below deck.

Hinata's team appeared last, and any resentment Naruto might have felt toward them vanished when he saw the state they were in. Kiba was unmoving and being carried on a stretcher by Kurenai and Shino, with Akamaru curled up next to him, whining piteously. Hinata walked beside him, her right eye completely covered by bandages. Shino was limping slightly, but it was difficult to tell how badly he was injured under the concealing clothes he wore.

"What happened to them?" Naruto asked Genma quietly, stunned at the ragged state of his fellow Leaf genin.

Genma shrugged. "Apparently Kurenai's team was ambushed by some Kiri genin while they were crossing the river. The Mist ninja incapacitated Hinata and then tried to cut one of her eyes out. Kiba and Shino managed to stop them, but took some pretty bad wounds in return. As for Asuma's genin…" Genma's expression became murderous. "That will be their story to tell if and when they choose to. Suffice to say, some genin from other villages really took the 'no rules' part of the exam to heart."

The angry look on Genma's face made Naruto fairly certain he didn't want to know more. The ship started pulling away from the beach, and Naruto watched Uzushio recede behind them, his thoughts returning to the now-buried cavern that had been home to the shade of his ancestor. _Right now Konoha needs saving, but someday I'll come back here and return to that cave even if I have to dig down there by hand,_ Naruto vowed silently.

* * *

"Mmh… good morning."

Harry and Ron looked up with smiles on their faces as Hermione wandered into the kitchen of the Shrieking Shack. Her hair – still short but growing back from being shaved by Fenrir Greyback – was a bit rumpled, and she ran her fingers through it for a moment, trying to restore some semblance of order before abandoning the effort until a return to Gryffindor Tower and a shower could be arranged.

Hermione settled down at the table, helping herself to some of the sandwiches from the picnic basket sitting at its center. After their first trip to the shack, Harry had started getting some food to go from the castle's kitchen, since they had taken to spending the morning after Hermione's transformations in the shack, allowing her to overcome the physical aches and mental disorientation of the change before returning to their peers.

Hermione, predictably, didn't even finish her breakfast before retrieving her books and notes from the sturdy, locked cabinet where they left their things before spending the night transformed. Harry and Ron exchanged a resigned look, but got their own homework out before the judging looks and chiding got started. Their head of house Professor McGonagall – who, thankfully, didn't have a werewolf-hating bone in her body – had been understanding of Hermione's situation, and Harry and Ron's choice to see her through it. She'd issued all three of them passes to skip morning classes the day after the full moon, but Hermione viewed the time off as a study period, and the boys had surrendered in the face of her insistence that they treat it as such, too.

Harry was writing an essay about the origins of ritual charms when his ears started ringing. He looked around with a frown, searching for anything out of the ordinary, but the Shack's interior was unchanged.

"Is something wrong, Harry?" Ron asked.

"I'm not sure…" he said slowly. The ringing got louder, turning into a dull roar. "Can either of you hear that?"

"All I hear is the birds outside and the shack creaking when the wind blows." Hermione said with a shake of her head. "What do you hear?"

Harry closed his eyes, and realized he could hear a voice through the roaring. "Nar... for him... the rules? Anywhere... better than..."

"It sounds like a wind storm, and I can hear a voice. Someone I've heard before, but when?"

Suddenly the voice got louder and clearer. "Harry Potter – or whoever is on the other end of this thing – please, help!"

Harry's eyes snapped open in alarm as he placed the voice – it belonged to the girl who had accompanied Naruto on his first trip between their worlds. She'd fought the Death Eaters and Quirrell on his behalf. "I think Naruto's friend is in trouble," Harry said. Rising to his feet he drew his wand. "Aperto Mundo Pontem!"

Harry staggered as the spell drew far more magic from him than it ever had before. The empty space in front of him flickered, and for a moment he could see a raging sandstorm, a shimmering dome of energy in the center and kneeling inside an armored girl with pink hair. After moment the image started to waver. "Aperto Mundo Pontem!" Harry cast the spell again and the image got stronger, but he was buffeted by a strong wind from nowhere and staggered back against the table.

"Harry, what's happening?" Hermione cried out, staring at the phantom image before them.

"The spell's asking too much of me," Harry panted. "Don't know why… maybe Naruto isn't there?" Glancing at the homework on the table for a charms lesson in group spellcasting, he had an idea. "I need your help – both of you!"

"Sure mate, but how?" Ron asked.

"Just like Flitwick told us it worked in class! Focus your magic on me and make the same wand movements! One, two, three!"

"Aperto Mundo Pontem!" Two young wizards and one young witch cast the spell at once, and the titanic pulse of magic brought all of them to their knees. Harry saw Hermione clap her hands over her ears as the loud howling became audible to all of them. More wind knocked all three of them on their asses and scattered the papers on the table. Harry had to close his eyes as a blast of grainy sand washed over him.

When the sound and fury faded Harry looked up gingerly, and stared in shock. The kitchen was in disarray, and a thin coat of sand covered everything, including himself, Ron and Hermione. Lying on the floor in front of them was the pink-haired girl named Sakura, and an older, taller boy Harry had never seen before, with long dark hair and handsome, aristocratic features.

Harry cast the charm to make words in other languages understandable and then knelt beside Sakura, shaking her shoulder. "Hey… are you okay?" Her jade eyes snapped open, full of fear and confusion. She swiped at him with one hand, her fingers glowing. Remembering the damage she'd done with those phantom blades Harry caught her wrist. "It's all right, you're safe," he said.

Sakura relaxed a bit as she recognized him. "Harry! It worked? We're alive?"

"Looks like it," Harry replied, helping her sit up. "What happened over there? Did you get caught in a sandstorm?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, it's… our home – Naruto's home – is under attack."

"By a sandstorm?" Harry said with a raised eyebrow.

"No, some giant monster thing that belched a sandstorm at us."

Hermione had moved over to check on the unconscious boy next to Sakura, but shied back when he woke and abruptly scrambled to his feet. Harry noted with curiosity that unlike most people waking up in a strange place, he didn't look around. Instead, veins bulged out around his pale eyes – eyes that lacked pupils – and a puzzled expression crossed his face. "Where are we, Sakura?" he demanded. "Who are these people?"

"The where is…" Sakura sighed, "a long story. Suffice to say we're a really long way from home. But these people are friends, Neji. Naruto and I saved their lives a while ago, and they just saved ours in return."

Neji nodded guardedly. "My thanks then," he said. "So how do we return to the battle?"

"The bracelet Naruto's mom made has always been the key before…" Sakura said before trailing off and looking around wildly. "Wait, where is the bracelet? I was just holding it!"

"It's not here or anywhere within my range," Neji said.

Harry waved his wand. "Accio Naruto's bracelet!" When nothing happened he nodded in agreement with Neji. "That would have worked if it was anywhere on the school grounds." He studied Sakura and Neji. "Don't you feel a drain on your 'chakra' from being here? Naruto always did, and he was just drawn back to your world when he ran out."

Sakura shook her head. "Mine's fine," she said, glancing at Neji, who shook his head.

"I'm drained from the battles we fought, but nothing's drawing on my chakra now."

"We don't know much about that bracelet," Hermione offered hesitantly, "but if you're here without any drain on your power… maybe what Naruto experienced was the cost of keeping the path back to your world open for his return?"

"Oh… oh no," Sakura murmured, eyes widening. "Then how _do_ we get home?"

* * *

 _Several hours earlier_

"I know it hurts, but hold still please," Sakura murmured.

"Sure thing, Sakura," Iruka replied, lying on the operating table in front of her. Sakura had watched, assisted and handed her sensei Misa tools during the main surgery, mending the wounds Iruka had received protecting a number of his students when a training exercise outside the village had fallen under a Cloud ninja ambush and turned deadly real. The life-threatening injuries were healed now and Misa had departed to see to the other injured, including several young Academy students. Sakura was left to mend her former teacher's less severe wounds, including the fractured shin bone that she was currently working on.

"You've grown up a lot, Sakura," Iruka commented. "You didn't even blink when I was wheeled in here."

Sakura considered that as she worked, pausing for a moment to wipe away some sweat from her brow. "I guess I have," she said slowly. "I've seen… a lot of death and suffering in the last year. I've killed, and I've seen friends die; sometimes protecting me. I was worried when I saw how hurt you are, but I can put it aside." She noted Iruka's hand curl into a fist, and a strange mix of anger and guilt in his eyes for a moment before he made them shinobi-blank again. Chiding herself mentally, she forced a smile. "But mostly it's just nice to be home, even if a little piece of this stupid war has followed me back."

"You should drop by the Academy sometime," Iruka said, changing the subject.

Sakura blinked. Iruka's shin bone was as solid as she could make it, so she started soothing away a few of the deepest bruises, the ones that might not heal without scarring if she didn't. "Why?"

"I'd like to introduce you to some of my students," Iruka explained. "You know that young kunoichi don't always have approachable role models."

"Me, a role model?" Sakura snorted. "I'm still a student myself; regardless of what this says," she absently tapped the chuunin badges on her armor's shoulder plates that marked her – technically – as Iruka's equal in rank, "I've barely started my apprenticeship. Misa-sensei reminds me of that often enough."

"Yes, and she's more than three times your age," Iruka countered reasonably. "You're a chuunin at thirteen, Sakura. Don't make less of that."

"'I'll stop by when I have some time if you insist," Sakura conceded. Finishing her work, she turned to wash her hands. Glancing into the mirror above the sink dubiously, she certainly didn't _see_ anyone who looked like a role model. Her eyes were more distant now, and her face wasn't as round, Misa's training and the rigors of the war front having burned away the last baby fat months earlier. Her pink hair – short by habit now at her teacher's insistence – was hidden under the bandanna attached to her hitai-ate most of the time to keep it out of the way while she worked. Sakura was distantly surprised to realize that she hadn't thought about what Sasuke would think of her appearance in a while. _Huh._

Turning back to her patient, Sakura frowned to see Iruka already climbing off the table. "The only place you're going is a recovery room," she told him firmly.

"I've got students to check on," Iruka protested.

"They're all alive, thanks to you and the other instructors," Sakura reminded him, "and Misa-sensei is with them. They'll be fine, trust me."

"I feel fine, Sakura," Iruka insisted. "You did good work."

Sakura silenced him with a glare. "Yes I did, and you're not going to undo it by leaving right now. You feel fine at the moment because you have enough of my chakra in you to mask the fact that yours is almost entirely gone, but within half an hour you'll fall on your face if you're not already on your back. So you're going to take a few days to rest and recover here in this nice, homey hospital, and there will be no escapes or I'll re-break that leg myself so you can't run. Clear?"

Sakura was pleased to see Iruka sweating a bit as he nodded hastily. She'd been appalled the first time Misa had threatened a jounin who wanted to walk out of the field hospital right after surgery, but she had to admit that shinobi patients did sometimes require a more… aggressive bedside manner than others.

Sakura got Iruka into a wheelchair and was rolling him over to the patient recovery wing when the ground started to shake. Shouts of alarm rang out through the hospital, along with the sound of supplies falling off of shelves. Sakura's eyes widened as she turned the wheelchair, steering it and herself into the arch of a wide doorway between halls. "An earthquake? Here?" she exclaimed.

"Doesn't feel quite right," Iruka said uneasily, looking up. The shaking got worse and Sakura dropped to her knees next to the wheelchair. "This feels more like- look out!" Iruka dove out of his wheelchair, throwing his body over Sakura's. A moment later, the ceiling collapsed. A falling chunk of concrete hit the side of her head, and she blacked out.

Sakura woke up engulfed in darkness. A heavy weight pressed down on her chest, legs and left arm. Her armor was bearing the pressure for the moment, but she was pinned like a turtle under a rock. Her head spun and she could feel a trickle of blood dampening her hair where the falling concrete had hit her. She took a breath and immediately started coughing; dust filled the air around her.

When she could focus Sakura carefully raised her right hand and channeled her chakra. Her palm glowed green, illuminating the tiny area she was trapped in. Broken slabs of concrete hemmed her in above and to every side. Iruka was still lying on top of her, his face centimeters from hers. Blood was leaking from between his closed lips, and she abruptly became aware of warm wetness soaking her arm and left side. Looking down, she gasped in dismay. A piece of rebar had punched through Iruka's lower back at an angle, emerging from his side and grazing her arm before burying itself in the tile floor. The wound was bleeding badly, and she was literally lying in a growing pool of her former teacher's blood.

"Fuck," Sakura exclaimed, causing Iruka's eyes to snap open. "Hang on," she urged him, She pressed the hand she could move to the exit wound the rebar had created in his side, questing with her chakra and slowing the flow of blood to a trickle.

"Sakura…" Iruka coughed.

"Don't try to talk," Sakura told him, "you're wounded; again."

"I… noticed…" Iruka managed with a crooked smile. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, thanks to you. Now let me work." Sakura was worried about what the weight of the rubble on Iruka was doing; he had no armor to shield him, only a patient's gown. There wasn't anything she could do about that, though.

A relieved smile crossed Iruka's face, but he passed out a moment later. "Damn it, don't you die on me," Sakura growled. She could feel his heartbeat weakening, but she couldn't do anything about it with only one hand. Gritting her teeth, Sakura wriggled and pulled on her trapped left arm. Something sharp dug into the back of her hand, but she gritted her teeth and pulled harder.

Sakura choked back a scream when her efforts sliced a deep, bleeding gash down the back of her hand, but it got her arm free and she pressed her left hand to Iruka's chest, pouring more chakra into his heart, forcing the stubborn muscle to keep beating.

Iruka's heartbeat stabilized and Sakura managed to close most of the blood vessels that were leaking, but with the rebar still driven through his body she couldn't heal him completely, and she had no way to remove the obstruction from the wound. Worse, while Iruka was fit and healthy, he'd also just been healed of other wounds. His body had no more chakra to give, forcing Sakura to sustain him with her own. She'd just finished a day of healing people herself and felt her reserves dip dangerously low as she kept her former teacher alive, but she gritted her teeth and kept up the stream of chakra. _I am not going to watch Iruka die,_ Sakura promised herself. _I am not going to tell Naruto when he gets back that the first teacher who ever gave a damn about us is gone because I couldn't save him. Help is coming. It has to be coming._

Sakura's vision tunneled after a while, and her perception narrowed down to awareness of Iruka's heartbeat and breathing. So focused was Sakura on her work that she didn't notice the rubble above them shifting until daylight, blindingly bright, lanced over Iruka's shoulder and into her eyes.

"There's someone alive down here!" Sakura decided that shout was one of the sweetest things she'd ever heard.

"Move the rubble carefully!" Sakura shouted back. "I've got a wounded patient down here impaled by some rebar, and it's probably attached to something up there!"

Those up above moved the rest of the rubble more carefully, lifting Iruka free and onto a stretcher, tended by other medics. The same hands pulled Sakura free and onto her feet, but her knees buckled as soon as she tried to stand.

"Easy, girl." Her head spinning, Sakura squinted in the bright light, barely able to make our Misa's face as the older woman eased her to a seat on a piece of rubble. "You're pretty drained. Here, swallow." Misa fed Sakura a dark pill and some water from a bottle.

"Is Iruka okay?" Sakura asked.

"He'll be fine thanks to you," Misa replied. "Take slow breaths."

Feeling her chakra levels slowly return, Sakura looked up with daylight-adjusted eyes… and her jaw dropped. "What _happened_?" Sakura asked, stunned. They were perched among the remnants of an avalanche of boulders that had come from the east. The cliff that had housed the Hokage monument was _gone_ , having broken up and slid down to bury almost a fifth of the entire village, including the hospital. As soon as Sakura understood what she was seeing, she started to register what she was hearing in the distance: sounds of combat.

"Konoha's under attack; there's a shinobi army assaulting the village's north and west walls," Misa replied grimly, helping Sakura to her feet. Her legs felt shaky, but she managed to stay standing on her own.

"Is it Kumo?" Sakura asked. "I thought they couldn't mount a large attack on us?"

"They couldn't, by themselves. The attackers are from Kumo, Suna and that new village in the Land of Rice, Oto," Misa told Sakura. "Sappers from Suna who entered the village openly under the current treaty set the charges that brought the cliff down." She spat on the ground. "Danzo Shimura will never stop saying 'I told you so' as long as he lives, assuming any of us survive this."

Sakura shivered, overtaken by the enormity of what was happening. Her whole life, every adult had assured her that Konoha was impregnable. "What…" she stammered, "what are we going to do?"

Misa sighed. "I'm going to keep patching up the people they're digging out of the rubble. You're going to join the force holding the southern quarter of the village; it's where the civilians are evacuating, and the ANBU commanders are trying to rally enough shinobi there to reinforce the front lines and push the attackers back."

Sakura frowned. "What about the Hokage?"

Misa pointed silently to the north. Sakura looked, and saw that the Hokage's tower was shrouded in an ominous square pillar of opaque purple chakra. "That appeared when the monument collapsed. No one knows what's going on in there, but the chakra spikes and tremors at least suggest someone inside is still fighting."

Sakura soon joined a group of frightened civilians being escorted by a four-man team that included a familiar chuunin. "Haku, you're okay!" Sakura called out.

The tall, handsome young man smiled at the sight of her. "Glad to see you well, cousin," he replied. Motoba, the jounin who commanded Haku's unit, got the group heading to the south. He and Haku along with the rest of their team scouted around the group, while Sakura helped keep everyone moving.

Haku's team was focusing on the flanks and rear of the group, the directions where the enemy would most likely come from. As a result, when Sakura heard sounds of fighting ahead she had the civilians halt and take cover while she went to investigate herself.

Rounding a corner, Sakura ducked under a kunai whirling through the air and saw one Leaf shinobi – a Hyuuga – fighting a pair of enemies wearing the music note hitai-ate of Oto. A third Oto ninja – a kunoichi – was on the ground, twitching and groaning. Two bodies in Leaf colors were also lying in the street, one struck with multiple senbon, another with trails of dried blood leading from every orifice.

Sakura distantly recognized the Hyuuga as Naruto's former teammate Neji as she crept around to the side, taking advantage of the Oto ninja's focus on Neji to launch an attack from the side, hurling a pair of kunai and charging in after them. The Oto shinobi in furs with a heavy metal gauntlet used it to block the kunai, and Sakura had to dive to the side as his teammate levelled hands with tubes through the palms at her, narrowly avoiding a blast of wind that blew holes in the brick wall behind her. Neither of them was able to follow up, however, because Neji moved in on them and they had to retreat.

"Thanks," Neji panted. "Can you distract the guy with the gauntlet? I can't get close to him." Sakura noted that there was blood leaking from Neji's ears as well, and he seemed a bit less stable on his feet than usual.

Sakura nodded silently, and they split off. Neji chased the skinny boy with the hollow hands, dodging his invisible pressure blasts with alacrity. Sakura moved between Neji's back and the enemy with the gauntlet. He waved the thing at her, and she heard the odd echoing howl it produced a moment before the painful jolt that struck her inner ear. Thanks to what she'd seen, however, Sakura was somewhat prepared for it and quickly directed healing chakra to the wounds inside her ears, which were so small that they mended instantly. Still perfectly on balance, she nonetheless staggered and dropped to one knee, feigning disorientation.

Malice glittered in the Oto ninja's eyes as he closed in for the kill, raising his gauntleted fist to crush her skull with one blow. Sakura waited until he was committed to the strike before twisting around it. His eyes widened in alarm and another pulse of sound struck her, but she'd already charged her system with more healing chakra, and shrugged off the dizziness. Green blades sprang from her fingertips, and she jabbed them into his arm above the gauntlet, targeting nerves and tendons. The sound waves cut off instantly. He started to scream, but the sound cut off with a choked gurgle as Sakura followed up with a steel toed kick to his groin, shaking her head in disbelief about how many shinobi boys didn't armor that area before going into a fight.

The Oto ninja went cross-eyed and fell to his knees, the arm he operated his weapon with now unusable. This presented Sakura with a number of options. She decided on drawing one of the small senbon sheathed in her left forearm bracer, driving it into her opponent's neck. His eyes rolled up in his head and he collapsed into unconsciousness, where he would remain for days unless the antidote to the drug on the senbon was administered.

"Dosu!" Sakura heard the other Oto ninja cry out. She turned to see Neji corner the skinny shinobi, blurring forward and jabbing his fingers into the holes in his opponent's palms. The boy's hands and forearms _exploded_ in response and he fell, screaming as blood fountained from ruined limbs.

"Are you going to try to save him?" Neji asked conversationally, stepping back from the spreading pool of blood.

"Umm… no?" Sakura replied as Neji walked over to the fallen Oto kunoichi and jabbed a finger into the back of her skull, stilling her spastic movements forever.

"Good, then you're wiser than your cousin," Neji spat. He moved to Sakura's opponent, but she grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey. First off, don't bad mouth Naruto," she growled. "Second, leave that one be; he's not getting up unless a Konoha medic lets him do so. Someone might want to ask him some questions after this is all over."

For a moment Sakura thought Neji would argue, but he glanced at the rank pins on her shoulders and shrugged. "All right."

"What's your assignment?" Sakura asked, moving around to face him and placing her hands on the sides of his head. He looked ready to object until she sent her chakra into his ears, mending the damage from the sound weapon.

"Don't have one," Neji replied once she was done. "I spotted the Sound teams slipping over the west wall and our sensei took us to fight them. He died in the ambush before this one, and they didn't last much longer," he gestured to the fallen Leaf genin nearby.

Sakura winced. "Then come with me; you can help us get the wounded we're escorting to safety."

When Sakura got back to the civilians with Neji in tow, she saw Haku arrive from the other side. His team looked battered and weary. "There's a large mixed force of Cloud and Sand shinobi coming right for us," Haku told Sakura as Motoba started telling the civilians the same thing. "Get these people to the main force, it's not too far now. We'll delay the enemy."

"I can help you," Sakura protested.

Haku shook his head. "Not your task, Sakura. Go, both of you; protect these people." He reached into his pouch and drew out a silver bracelet, placing it in Sakura's hand. "Here, take this. Give it to Naruto when you see him next."

Sakura's eyes widened; she knew what it was, the weird bracelet that let Naruto be drawn to that other world. She didn't say anything, only nodding and slipping the bracelet into her pouch before moving to follow the fleeing civilians. Neji followed at her side as they ran. "What is that thing?" he asked. "I've never seen chakra working in that manner." Sakura shrugged silently, and Neji's breath hissed in frustration. "Another of Naruto's secrets?" he guessed. "At least tell me this one isn't dangerous."

"Not dangerous at all," Sakura replied.

"Fine," Neji grumbled. Then there was no more time for talk, because the ground shook and a massive form blotted out the sun. A building between Sakura, Neji and the civilians collapsed into the street, separating them. A moment later a massive paw landed on top of the rubble. Tan flesh with blue whorls on it formed a pillar that blocked the whole street. Looking up and up and _up_ , Sakura saw what looked like a raccoon dog, but taller than any building in Konoha and glaring down at them with dark eyes and gold star pupils that glittered with malice. Its massive maw high above gaped wide, and with a roar like a desert storm a sand blast erupted forth headed straight for them.

"Get down," Neji yelled, his hands driving Sakura to the ground, as he stepped past her and then began to spin in place. A shimmering dome of chakra whirled into place, barely covering the both of them. The sand blast hit, and through the curtain of Neji's chakra Sakura could see the sand scouring everything it touched; softer materials like wood and cloth disintegrated instantly, and even stone and brick was slowly worn away. Sakura shuddered to imagine with it would do to flesh.

Whatever Neji was doing was deflecting the sand blast around them, but Sakura could feel the amount of chakra he was using to maintain it. "You can't do this for long, can you?" she guessed.

"What was your first hint?" Neji grunted. "No, I can't; any bright ideas?"

"Not really," Sakura replied hopelessly. The tiny circle of safety they occupied was just ordinary asphalt, without any manholes or other openings. If she was as strong as the legendary Tsunade Senju she could punch her way down into the sewers, but that technique had been lost with the Sannin herself. "Wait for that thing to get bored?"

"Thanks," Neji replied sarcastically.

Unfortunately the beast kept up its assault, seeming to be enraged by their continued survival, and Sakura could feel Neji's chakra output slowly waning. Without any better ideas, Sakura drew Naruto's bracelet from her pouch and studied it desperately. "Naruto said you only work for him, but can we bend the rules?" Sakura begged the piece of jewelry. "Anywhere is better than here; please?"

Sakura couldn't tell over the howling of the storm and the world shaking around her, but she thought that she heard the bracelet emit a soft hum and vibrate slightly. Encouraged, she fed it as much chakra as she had to spare and saw the inner band of runes fitfully glow orange. "What are you doing?" Neji shouted.

"No idea!" Sakura shouted back at him before focusing on the bracelet. "Harry Potter – or whoever else is on the other end of this thing – please, help!"

* * *

A blinding flash of white light emerged from the center of Shukaku's targeted assault, the intensity of the light making the bijuu howl in pain, staggering back and rubbing his eyes. When he peered down to look for the tiny mortals that had dared to defy him, Shukaku saw nothing. Satisfied, he stomped off to find someone else to kill. In the abandoned street, there was no one to see a shiny band of engraved silver roll a short ways down the gutter before falling through a grating and into the sewer.


	39. Dark Alliance

_Author's Note: Three updates at once this time. I'd intended to get back to two at a time, but by the time I finished chapter thirty-nine it was 8k words long, so I split it in two._

 _A few readers have noted that Harry's gotten less screen time of late, but I promise that will change in the next set of updates._

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Dark Alliance

* * *

Naruto and his fellow Leaf shinobi could smell the smoke long before they got close to Konoha, but by then the worst part – not knowing what was happening – had passed. They'd started encountering Konoha's beefed-up patrols on the edge of the forest. Konoha still stood, but from what Naruto had overheard the cost had been dear. Casualties were high, especially among the retirees and reservists who had turned out to defend their homes. A lot of civilians had also died, mostly those in the path of the collapsing Hokage monument.

Passing through the south gate – the east was still buried in rubble – Naruto was struck by the number of grim-faced and heavily armed defenders. Having been caught off guard once, Konoha's defenders were plainly set on not letting it happen again. It wasn't entirely clear how the enemy had achieved surprise, but Naruto suspected it involved a lot of dead patrols.

The returning shinobi wasted no time splitting up, and Naruto headed for home. Upon arrival, he was dismayed to see that the scars of battle had reached his family's land. The low wall around the compound had collapsed in a few places, and a handful of houses were sporting battle damage.

"Should have known you'd survive and make your way back," a caustic voice commented from a rooftop as Naruto turned a corner. He looked up to see a hard-faced woman with dark pink hair studying him, fingering the hilt of her sword. "Too bad you couldn't be here the one time this village could have actually used you."

Naruto bit back a hot retort, clenching his jaw. When he was little he hadn't understood why Atsuki hated him. He did now; she'd lost her father to the Kyuubi before he became its jinchuuriki. Every time she said something mean to him and he wanted to say something mean back, he reminded himself that despite her attitude she'd risked her life defending him and his mom from the Raikage. "It's nice to see that you're okay too," he replied as politely as he could manage. "Do you know where Haku is?" One glance showed him their house was empty.

Atsuki turned her head to the side and spat. "Your brother's out with the reinforced patrols. He should be home in a few hours," she said. "At least Haku made himself useful and survived. Not everyone can say that." There was a note of sadness, tightly controlled, in Atsuki's tone. Naruto didn't really want to talk to her anymore though, so he didn't ask. Instead he turned and left.

Heading home, Naruto was relieved to see that it was undamaged. He dropped off his pack and took a proper shower with a sense of relief. Once that was done he threw together a stew and set it to simmering on the stove. He heard the door open just past sunset while cleaning and oiling his weapons.

"Haku!" Naruto exclaimed as he emerged from his room.

"Naruto, you're back. Thank god," Haku said, and the brothers embraced tightly. "I was worried about you."

"Me?" Naruto replied. "I wasn't even here. What about you? Are you hurt?"

The way Haku moved told Naruto that he wasn't entirely okay, but he waved off any concerns. "I'm fine, little brother."

"So what happened? I thought something like this was supposed to be impossible," Naruto asked over dinner.

Haku scowled. "An unholy alliance between a recent ally, an old enemy and a new one," he growled. "Suna decided to break a treaty that's held for decades, Oto came out of nowhere, and Kumo was of course eager to get in on the act. Somehow they got their hands on our most recent patrol deployment plans. There are a lot of good men and women dead out in the forest, Naruto. They were all ambushed, so there was no warning until the monument exploded." He sighed. "We still had the numbers and tenacity to turn the attack back, but we lost a lot doing it. Due to the casualties here in the village, the Hokage's been forced to recall the bulk of our forces from the border. The daimio's sending regular troops… but if the Lightning daimio does the same, we're probably going to lose Sunset Valley."

Naruto winced. "After everything that was done to protect it we're giving up?" He couldn't help but think of Maito Gai and Tenten's suffering… and Kivi's death.

"Unfortunately," Haku agreed.

"So where's Sakura?" Naruto asked, before catching himself. "Silly question I guess, with so many wounded."

Haku's spoon froze halfway to his mouth. "No one's told you?" he asked quietly.

"I just got back; I've barely talked to anyone but you," Naruto replied, feeling a chill run down his spine at Haku's expression. "Told me what?"

Haku set down his spoon with a sigh. "Sakura's gone, Naruto; she was killed in the fighting."

The words hit Naruto like a gut punch. "What? That's not right." His whole life Sakura had been there: happy, smiling, laughing and running around with him. _Alive_. He couldn't wrap his head around that not being the case. "Sakura can't be dead."

"I'm sorry Naruto, but it's true." Haku said gently. "I wasn't close enough to help but I saw it happen; so did multiple civilians. Sakura and your former teammate Neji Hyuuga were both killed defending a group of evacuees."

"How… how did it happen?" Naruto whispered, leaden numbness spreading through his body from his gut.

"It was Suna's terror weapon," Haku replied tightly. "They have a jinchuuriki about your age. He was smuggled into Konoha, and when the attack started he unleashed his bijuu, Shukaku. It was responsible for roughly a third of the total casualties." He looked away. "I was tied up with enemies of my own, but I went to investigate when I could. Shukaku's sand attacks disintegrated everything in their path; there wasn't anything left of her."

"No…"

"Mother's bracelet was destroyed as well," Haku said slowly. "I was worried that the fight I was going into might be my last, so I gave it to Sakura for safekeeping. She was supposed to be headed to safety."

Naruto shook his head. "Mom's bracelet was just a thing," he said. "But Sakura…" he scrubbed at the sudden moisture in his eyes. "How can she be gone?"

Haku stepped around the table to hug his brother. "It's okay to grieve, Naruto," he whispered. "Let it out."

Naruto retreated to his room after helping Haku clean up in a numb haze. He hurt inside, even more than when Itachi Uchiha had taken his mom because he knew she was still alive. He could still get her back. But if Sakura was dead… she was gone forever. His heart ached with each breath, but gradually he became aware of heat building in his core, flowing out to replace the numbness. Lying down on his bed he closed his eyes, but instead of darkness he saw red. Rage was boiling up inside of him.

 **"I was having a nice nap, brat,"** a malevolent voice snarled in Naruto's mind. **"Your pain woke me up, but you're not wounded. Why are you whimpering?"** The red behind his eyelids resolved itself into a pair of angry eyes with slit pupils studying him in a face covered in orange fur.

"She's gone," Naruto answered. "Sakura's gone."

Kyuubi grinned. **"The pink bitch is dead? Hmmph. Well I'm sure getting weepy over it is going to bring her back."**

"Don't you make light of it," Naruto snarled, angry enough that the oddity of talking to the demon inside of him for the first time wasn't really registering.

 **"Who killed her?"** Kyuubi asked curiously.

"Someone else like me, a jinchuuriki," Naruto whispered. "Haku said the bijuu's name was Shukaku."

Kyuubi bared a maw of wicked teeth in sudden fury. **"Shukaku intruded on MY territory?"**

"He attacked Konoha, yes," Naruto replied slowly, not sure how he felt about the Kyuubi considering Konoha his territory.

 **"How DARE that smug, sneaky tanuki bastard come here!"** Kyuubi raged. **"Konoha is mine to destroy!"**

"Over my dead body," Naruto snapped back.

 **"In time brat, in time,"** Kyuubi replied dismissively. **"For now, you've got a choice to make: you can lie there blubbering and feeling sorry for yourself, or you can do something about the murder of a member of your pack. Which of those do you think better honors the pink bitch's memory?"**

Naruto sat up, startled. Kyuubi's visage vanished when he opened his eyes, but the sense of the bijuu's presence didn't fade. "What are you talking about?"

 **"Revenge, of course,"** Kyuubi replied, sounding amused. **"I don't like you brat; you're the latest cage in a line of cages, and I hate being caged. But I hate Shukaku more. I'm making you a one-time offer: I'll help you punish Shukaku and his container."**

Naruto couldn't deny that a fierce exhilaration welled up inside of him at the thought of avenging Sakura and Konoha. "Won't Suna just make a new jinchuuriki?" Naruto asked. He was pretty sure Haku had told him that Kyuubi couldn't be killed, thus necessitating his sealing.

 **"There's killing and then there's** _ **punishment**_ **, brat,"** Kyuubi growled inside of him. **"With my help, you can destroy Shukaku's vessel in a manner that will prevent the bastard tanuki from reforming his essence for a long,** _ **long**_ **time. It's a fate worse than dying, for both of them."**

Naruto sat on the side of his bed, absently staring at one hand, flexing his fist open and closed. Memories of Sakura flashed through his head. They'd gone to each other's birthday parties every year. Their mothers had dressed them up for festivals, and they'd caught goldfish with paper wands; Sakura always did it first with those deft hands of hers. Naruto recalled her joy at becoming a medic and her pride tinged with sadness when she was promoted. "Say I was entertaining this offer," Naruto said slowly. "How do we do it? The other jinchuuriki fled with the rest of Suna's attack force."

 **"There's nowhere in this world Shukaku could hide his tanuki stink from me,"** Kyuubi assured him. **"But he's unlikely to be alone, and you're still a kit. Go to whoever wears that ridiculous pointy hat these days and tell him that just this once, our interests align. You'll get the tools you need to see the job done."**

"Okay," Naruto whispered. "Let do it." The sense of Kyuubi's presence faded, and Naruto decided that 'just this once,' the demon might be right. The prospect of doing something did feel better than lying there and grieving.

* * *

Lily Potter pushed an ornate swinging door open and banished a scowl from her face, replacing it with blank neutrality. A tray perched on her hand held a bottle of expensive sake and three delicate porcelain cups. Moving with the sure grace of the hostess she was pretending to be, Lily made her way across the first level of the high-end gambling house toward the stairs that led up to the VIP rooms. The visibly armed guards let her pass with little more than a nod; after all, they believed she'd worked there for years and was thoroughly vetted to serve those above. Lily reflected idly that since coming to the Elemental Nations, she may have – by necessity – become the most adept witch ever to live when it came to memory charms.

Upstairs the decorations were even fancier: polished wooden pillars were covered with gold engravings, and hand-painted silk screens provided privacy for the gamers winning and losing vast sums beyond. Arriving at the room she was to serve, Lily knelt outside the door, tapping on it lightly and waiting for an invitation before sliding it open. The eyes of those inside glanced at her once before returning to the cards in their hands. They barely saw her, as she'd hoped; she'd spelled her hair and eyes to darkness in order to better blend in. Keeping her face lowered, Lily studied the trio with subtle glances as she knelt beside the table to pour their drinks.

Two of the men were of advanced middle age, their thinning hair caught up in traditional top knots. One had a muscled frame, callused hands, and a pair of swords by his side even in such a secure location. _A samurai_. The other was a far softer man with a protruding gut, his round body wrapped in expensive embroidered silks. His pudgy hand caressed Lily's bottom with unwonted familiarity as she poured his drink, and she suddenly felt a bit less bad about what she was there to do.

Lily had to fight not to react when she got a good look at the last man in the room however, because she felt a jolt of recognition from the place in her skull where Kushina's memories lived. Like the samurai he was a large man with weathered, callused hands, but he was infinitely more dangerous. _Kisame did not tell me there would be a shinobi in the room with the target, much less **this** shinobi!_ Lily groused mentally as she set down the third cup in front of him.

The red-garbed shinobi with a wild mane of white hair glanced up at her. His gaze lingered on her cleavage as she poured for him, and a lecherous smile crossed his face. Unlike her target he restrained himself to looking rather than touching. After a moment however he looked up to her face and his smile faded into a puzzled frown. "You?" he exclaimed.

From the corner of her eye Lily saw the fat man raising his cup to his lips. Another second and it wouldn't matter. Jiraiya's intelligent eyes turned to the cup as well, and he swore. A shuriken dropped from his sleeve into his fingers and he flicked it across the table, managing to shatter the cup centimeters from the fat man's lips without striking his flesh.

"Master Jiraiya," the fat man sputtered as the samurai grabbed his sword. "What on-"

"She's not a sake girl," Jiraiya growled. "Whatever she put in your cup, you don't want to drink it."

Lily's hand dipped under her obi where her wand was concealed. Before she could draw it, Jiraiya's hand closed around her wrist in a crushing grip. Lily had learned repeatedly and to her sorrow that her reflexes couldn't match a shinobi's, but she'd spent a lot of time working on ways to counter that disadvantage. As soon as Jiraiya touched her a wave of magic exploded out from Lily's body. On touching the three men in the room it slammed them into the floor with remorseless power. Jiraiya's hand was torn from her wrist, leaving behind a ring-shaped bruise.

Lily noted that even under the effect of a paralysis spell powerful enough to lock an elephant in place Jiraiya was still managing to move his extremities, though very slowly. Not wasting any time, Lily drew the vial of poison from her sleeve and knelt over the fat man. His eyes rolled frantically, the only part of him that could move. "I'm sorry, Lord Rosu," Lily said with genuine regret. "I wish it didn't have to be this way." Gently parting his lips she poured the vial's contents into his mouth and then jabbed his throat to make him swallow. The amount of poison lining the cup she'd given him wouldn't have taken effect for hours, but after ingesting the whole vial he was dead in seconds.

Her task done Lily rose to leave, only to discover Jiraiya doing something odd. He'd dipped his finger in a puddle of sake and used it to trace a design on the reed mat where he lay. Lily barely had enough time to recognize the pattern as fuuinjutsu before he drew the last line. Abruptly, the magical energy charging the room and pinning the men vanished, sucked into the seal Jiraiya had created. The temperature in the room also dropped abruptly, and the light dimmed for a moment.

The samurai rolled to his feet in a smooth motion, drawing his sword and swinging it with blurring speed. This time, however, Lily already had her wand in hand. "Stupefy," she muttered, unleashing not a simple projectile but a wave of red magic intended to strike both men. The samurai went down, but Jiraiya – already on his feet – crossed his arms in front of him, and the engraved bracers he wore took the brunt of the spell. He grunted, but didn't fall. "Imp-" Lily began desperately, but Jiraiya flickered and vanished. A painful blow to her elbow numbed her hand and made her wand fall to the floor. A moment later, a brawny arm wrapped around her neck while another hand clapped over her mouth.

"Do to me what you did to the Raikage, and I promise my death throes will snap your neck," Jiraiya growled in her ear. "Understand?" Feeling the power of his muscles and her vertebrae groaning in protest Lily believed him and nodded frantically. She couldn't cast an Unforgivable Curse without her wand anyways. "Good. I have to say you don't look much like a prisoner, Lily Haruno. You look more like an operative. How long have you been the Akatsuki's creature?"

"Mmph," Lily protested. Her words were muffled to unintelligibility by his hand.

"Speak a word I don't understand, and you won't like what will happen," Jiraiya growled. He also kicked her wand into the corner of the room before removing his hand from her mouth.

"Itachi Uchiha walked into my home," Lily's words spilled out rapidly. "He breezed past every layer of security around Naruto like it wasn't even there. He told me he would kill both of my sons if I did not go with him to serve his master. What would you have done in my place? Even now their lives are hostage to my cooperation."

Jiraiya considered that. "You don't seem like a fool," he said at last. "You must know that if the Akatsuki aren't stopped they'll kill Naruto anyways, eventually."

"Of course I know that," Lily hissed. "But every year of life I buy my sons is a year for them to get stronger, to grow and train and form alliances; to be ready when the monsters holding my leash come for them."

"Interesting; I told Hiruzen he was being sentimental when he let you keep Naruto after the Raikage's death," Jiraiya murmured. "He knew you were hiding something, but believed that you genuinely cared about the boy."

"He was right. Naruto is my son," Lily answered simply. "I will do anything for him."

"You really mean that? You'll do whatever it takes to ensure Naruto's safety?" Jiraiya asked sharply.

Lily looked down at the body of the man at her feet, surprised that she could still feel guilty about the lives she'd taken. "I already have. My hands are drenched with blood, but if it saves Naruto and Haku, I will wade into this red ocean until I drown in it."

"I think I believe you," Jiraiya said, releasing his grip on her. "All right, well since you killed my surveillance target I suppose I can take the time to get you safely back to Konoha."

Lily blinked. "Your target? You know what, never mind. I'm not going back to Konoha."

Jiraiya frowned. "You don't want to? I can protect you – and Naruto – from the Akatsuki."

Lily shook her head. "I won't risk my sons' lives. Even if I was willing to chance it… no. I'm more use to Naruto and Haku where I am, keeping an eye on the Akatsuki."

Jiraiya's eyebrows rose. "You're sure."

Lily took a deep breath. The thought of going home was so tempting. To see Naruto and Haku again, to hold them in her arms… but she only had to envision standing over their graves to banish the longing. "Yes." She knew from Kushina's memories that Jiraiya was powerful, but she feared based on her own observations that the Akatsuki – their terrifying Leader in particular – were stronger.

"All right then… give me your hand."

Puzzled, Lily complied with the request, sitting down across the table from Jiraiya. He quickly got out a brush and ink and started painting a seal on the back of her hand. She could feel tingling as his chakra pooled and flowed down through her skin. When he was done he pressed his hand over the design. When he drew back, it appeared to be gone… except that she could still feel something there. "What was that all about?"

"If you need to get out, channel chakra into that seal," Jiraiya replied seriously. "I'll be able to find you and attempt an extraction. It won't be quick, though; might be weeks or months depending on where we are, and what I'm up to."

Lily considered that. If she wanted to run from the Akatsuki she could just apparate away, but she saw no need to share, and having a backup plan never hurt. "I don't have any chakra," she confessed.

"You don't…" Jiraiya glanced at the dead man and the unconscious one. "Okay. Well then get someone you trust to do it. Enough chakra from anyone will activate the seal."

"Fair enough," Lily replied, rising to her feet and retrieving her wand. "Now I need to get going before _they_ start wondering what's taking so long." She paused. "Will you look in on Naruto and Haku for me?"

"Sure," Jiraiya murmured. "Anything I should tell him?"

Lily smiled sadly before shaking her head. "If you did, you'd have to explain why I didn't return, and I know my boys. They'd feel guilty knowing what I've sacrificed to protect them. Better to let them keep thinking I'm a helpless captive than know the truth that I kill men like Rosu to ensure they go on living."

Lily found herself fighting tears as she slipped out of the casino, and she paused in an alley a few blocks away, sagging against the wall. For a moment, alone, she let herself miss home and her family. She cried, and then she put it away deep inside of her. She abandoned her hostess' garb in a dumpster and donned the dark cloak with red clouds on it that she quietly detested. She took a moment to dry her eyes and school her face to neutrality once more before slipping into a decrepit high rise in the slums.

Letting herself into the apartment where she'd started her night's journey, Lily noted that Kisame Hoshigaki had barely moved in the intervening hours; he was still sitting cross-legged on a bare section of floor with his eyes closed and Samehada across his lap. His eyes opened on her entry, and he watched silently as Lily spelled her long hair back to a bright pink and her eyes to green. She could have resumed her natural hair color among the Akatsuki, but after so many years she'd gotten used to being a Haruno, and it was a piece of home that her captors couldn't take from her.

"Job's done?" Kisame grunted.

Lily met his beady gaze, their eyes level only because he was sitting on the floor. "Have I ever come back with my task incomplete?"

Kisame chuckled. "Let's get out of this stinking shithole then." He rose to his massive height, slung his wrapped sword across his back, and they departed.


	40. Heartstrike

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Heartstrike

* * *

Fresh back from the Christmas break Harry held his breath as he sat in the Headmaster's office, watching Dumbledore looking over the paperwork assembled and submitted for his approval over the vacation. "As you know, technically the window of eligibility has passed," Dumbledore said with a glance over his bifocals at Harry.

Harry winced. "I know, Professor Dumbledore," he admitted.

Dumbledore smiled gently. "I must confess to being curious, Harry. How did you come to meet these two?"

"It was a surprise, honestly," Harry admitted. "They kind of came out of nowhere, but we've gotten to know each other pretty well in a short time."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Well then, far be it for me to stand in the way of your budding diplomacy." He glanced back at the forms. "I don't see the necessary visas from the Ministry, though," he noted.

Harry nodded. "Uncle Remus is taking them to London today, actually. Provided there are no problems the owls from the Ministry should arrive by this evening."

Dumbledore nodded and signed the forms before him. "Well then, provided said owls arrive, I see no reason why Hogwarts can't accommodate two more exchange students, especially ones from the Far East."

"Thank you, professor," Harry said in relief.

"Before you go Harry," Dumbledore murmured, "how is your internship with Professor Lockhart progressing?"

"I'm not sure whether we'll find what we're looking for," Harry replied with a shrug, "but I've learned a lot about the history of Hogwarts, so even if there isn't a Chamber of Secrets the search has been interesting."

Dumbledore chuckled, but whatever he'd been about to say was lost when the door to his office burst open. Professor McGonagall rushed into the room as Harry turned around, looking quite perturbed. "Oh! Mr. Potter," she murmured before turning to Dumbledore. "Headmaster, there's been an incident. A first-year Gryffindor has been attacked in the halls!"

Things moved very quickly after that. It was midday, but classes were cancelled and students directed back to the dorms. McGonagall walked Harry back to the tower herself, and his senses strained for signs of attack the whole trip. None came, but the Gryffindor common room was abuzz when he arrived.

"It was Colin Creevey," Lavender Brown confirmed in a shaking voice once McGonagall had departed, "I turned a corner in the halls and there he was just… _floating_ in the air! He wasn't moving!" She lowered her voice. "When they took him to the infirmary I heard Madame Pomfrey say that his magical core was gone!"

That information sent a ripple of unease through the common room. "Wait, you mean he's a Muggle now?" Lee Jordan asked with a shudder. "Is that even possible?" Most people were focused on Lavender's story, but Harry noticed a few of the more studious seventh year students – including Percy Weasley – going dead white. He found himself wondering if they knew something that the younger Gryffindors didn't.

"That's enough speculation," Percy declared moments later. "For now, everyone return to your dorms. We'll all head down to dinner as a group, and I'm sure the professors will have more information – rather than gossip – for us then." Lavender and Lee wilted a bit under his stern gaze, and the students retreated to their rooms.

Hermione was shuffled off to her room, but managed to slip out and join Harry and Ron in theirs. "How'd things go with Professor Dumbledore before all of this?" she asked anxiously.

Harry glanced around. One of the sad benefits of Hermione's werewolf status was that Ron and Harry's other roommates tended to make themselves scarce when she visited, as though lycanthropy was an airborne disease. "He signed the papers," Harry assured her. "So assuming things in London go well Sakura and Neji will be able to stay at Hogwarts as exchange students."

"That's good for them I guess if your mate Naruto makes contact," Ron replied dubiously, "but how are they going to pose as magical folk when they're not… well… magical?"

Harry shrugged. "Sakura assures me it won't be an issue, and I trust her. They seem confident that they can fake it."

* * *

"I hate this place," Neji muttered as he and Sakura followed Remus Lupin through the halls of the Ministry of Magic.

"Really?" Sakura asked. "Where else other than Konoha have the two of us gone that no one's stared at us?" It was true, too. Neither Sakura's pink hair nor Neji's blank eyes attracted much attention from the wizards and witches thronging the massive building. Sakura had passed a witch whose hair changed color while she watched, and Neji's weren't the oddest eyes she'd seen since entering the Ministry.

Neji shook his head. "It's not that," he replied quietly. "This place is messing with my byakugan. These spells that make spaces larger on the inside than the outside are giving me a headache."

"Then don't look?" Sakura offered. Neji snorted. "Okay, bad idea; I have to admit, I miss my armor." She flapped the sleeves of the wizarding robe she wore in irritation. Remus Lupin had been quite firm that no witch would wear anything like her armor, but she felt vulnerable without it.

"Know what I miss? Having allies I could trust," Neji growled. "I don't like being forced to rely on these wizards."

"They've done right by us so far," Sakura said cautiously. She got the sense it hadn't been easy to spirit the pair of them away from the castle called 'Hogwarts' without anyone noticing, and Harry's adult guardians had been nothing but polite and hospitable since.

Neji sighed. "Don't get me wrong Sakura, I'm glad to be alive, but I'd be a lot happier if it didn't look like we're stuck here and reliant on your cousin for a rescue. Even changing teams didn't get me away from his messes, apparently." Sakura frowned slightly, but let it go. Naruto was definitely a sore subject with the taciturn Hyuuga.

Soon there was no time for private talk as Remus began the process of getting the pair of them through the Ministry's immigration service. Most of it was just paperwork, and Sakura reflected wryly that bureaucracy, even more than physics, was apparently a universal constant.

The only risky part of the process was the test of 'magical proficiency' in order to secure their student visas. The first part of the deception owed to Remus' hard work. He'd crafted a pair of amulets Sakura and Neji wore that made them appear to have magical cores as long as the metal rested against their bare skin.

Remus couldn't help them with the practical test, of course, not under a Ministry proctor's watchful eyes. He'd tutored them in what the expected spells _were_ , however, and both Sakura and Neji took advantage of something that she had learned in her life-and-death fight with Quirrell: even experienced adult wizards seemed to have little resistance to genjutsu if they weren't expecting it.

Neither Neji nor Sakura could actually levitate a book, but both of them could absolutely make it _look_ like the book had been levitated. Waving a wooden rod and chanting nonsense words while she silently crafted half a dozen illusions made Sakura feel slightly silly, and she could see Neji's irritation. But it was a small price to pay to make sure they stayed close to Harry Potter, the person who served as the other half of Naruto's bridge between worlds. When Naruto bridged the gap the 'right' way he never stayed for long due to the chakra drain, so they both needed to be ready to grab on when he appeared if they ever wanted to go home.

When the testing and paperwork were concluded Neji and Sakura both had visas in hand, and copies were winging on their way to Hogwarts. They were on their way out of the Ministry when a low rumbling shook the whole building for a moment. Sakura looked around quickly, and saw expressions of surprise and alarm on the faces of the wizards and witches. "That wasn't supposed to happen, I assume?"

"No," Remus replied with a tight face. "I haven't felt a building this large shake like that since-" he was cut off by a more violent tremor that drove most of the people in the Ministry's Floo Hall to the ground, though Sakura and Neji kept their feet. Exchanging a concerned look they grabbed Remus' arms and pulled him into the relative safety of a narrow space between a broad support pillar and the side of a burning green Floo hearth.

Steel bars started dropping down to cover the Floo hearths and a loud voice echoed through the Ministry urging those inside to remain calm and use the emergency exits. That voice was drowned out, however, when staccato explosions started erupting from locked Floo hearths, blasting the bars into pieces and sending waves of hot shrapnel outwards to pepper the crowd of people. Even as the deafening noise of the explosions faded, screams and cries of pain rose to shatter the silence.

Sakura moved to slip out from behind their shelter, but Neji caught her arm. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"There are injured people out there," she replied, tugging her arm free. "I can help!"

"We're not here to help, Sakura," Neji growled. "We need to keep our heads down until we can get the hell out of this weird world. We cannot afford to be noticed. These polite people will turn on us in an instant if they realize that we're not like them."

Sakura noted that while they were arguing Remus had already gone out to help people. She glared at Neji, but before she could retort, the ground shook again, one muted impact after another. _Things_ burst forth from the green flames of the blown-open entrances of the Floo hearths, huge and dark forms that moved into the hall full of people with terrible purpose.

Sakura stared at humanoid shapes that someone had crafted from dark stone. They had long limbs, barrel chests and squat heads. Their bodies were lined with cracks that glowed with an icy blue inner fire, and two brilliant points of cyan light in the heads seemed to serve as eyes.

Sakura saw one wizard – already wounded by the shrapnel blasts – die when a golem stepped on him. She knew it wasn't an accident when another golem raised its fist and brought it down to crush a well-dressed witch on her knees trying to shelter her child. Before the blow landed Remus stepped between them, wand raised and glowing. The golem's fist was stopped by a shimmering veil of light, but it didn't give up, and Sakura could see the grimace on Remus' face as he held up tons of stone with nothing but magic and will.

"Hide if you want to," Sakura snapped at Neji. "I'm not sitting by to watch this." Sprinting across the room, Sakura threw herself into the air with a chakra-powered leap and landed on the shoulders of the black golem menacing Remus. She drew kunai from beneath her robes and drove them into the golem's glowing eyes.

The golem reared back with an ethereal howl that made Sakura's bones ache. Its tree trunk arms lashed up to swat her like a bug. She ducked under the swipe, dropping down onto the upper slope of its back. She wrapped her arms around the golem's thick neck, moving her hands in a deadly embrace that drove long chakra scalpels deep into the stone. She decapitated the golem entirely, and that seemed to break down whatever was powering it. She rode its falling body to the ground, and the impact rattled her teeth when it landed.

Sakura turned to Remus, who was staring at her strangely. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Remus coughed. "Yes, I'm fine. You just reminded me of… someone… for a moment."

"Tell me about it later," she murmured. Closer to the mother and child Remus had shielded, she saw that the little boy's robe was bloody, a chunk of shrapnel protruding from his leg. Sakura glanced around cautiously, expecting to see a massacre, but surprisingly the golems were facing spirited resistance. Elsewhere so many murderous monsters would have slaughtered a crowd of civilians, but witches and wizards blurred the line between combatants and civilians.

After recovering from the shock of the golems' sudden appearance, dozens of ordinary magical folk did the same thing Remus had: they drew wands and started fighting back. Sakura watched one golem after another staggering under the impacts of multiple spells, and while their rocky hides didn't give way easily, Sakura noticed that the light pouring from the cracks in their bodies dimmed as they took more hits. The first golem to emerge was the second to fall after Sakura's victim, overwhelmed by a barrage of magic from every side. Other golems tried to chase down wizards and crush them, but several times Sakura saw one witch or wizard bait a golem into charging them only to vanish or blur into white light and reappear a safe distance away.

Satisfied that the fight was going well without her, Sakura knelt beside the wounded boy, only for his mother to pull him away. "What are you doing?" The frightened witch demanded.

Sakura put on a calm, friendly face. "Your son is hurt," she explained. "I can help him."

The witch blinked. "But you're so young," she objected, and Sakura was reminded of what Remus and Sirius had explained to her repeatedly: in their world, a thirteen year old was considered a child regardless of her accomplishments. In the Elemental Nations she'd gotten used to being considered a legal adult; wearing Konoha's emblem allowed Sakura to not only to fight and die for coin, but to buy and sell property, enter contracts and even get married if she wanted to.

"She's very skilled," Remus assured the witch. "She healed my nephew from a wound worse than that one."

The witch still looked dubious, but nodded hesitantly. Sakura reached out to touch the boy's leg gently. He flinched, but the first thing she was slip some chakra into the leg, forming a nerve block. He gasped when the pain that had left him whimpering and sobbing cut off. She slowed the flow of blood to his leg and then gripped the section of the shrapnel protruding through his robe. "You may want to look away," she told him with a smile. The boy smiled back weakly and closed his eyes. Sakura pulled the shard straight out of the wound with a burst of enhanced strength. Barely any blood seeped out, and she closed the relatively small puncture in less than a minute.

When Sakura was done the witch gaped at the state of her son's leg, unable even to see where he'd been wounded. "I didn't think there were any mediwitches so young," she marveled, "and to do all that without a wand!"

"Healers are trained a bit differently in her country," Remus interjected hastily. "It's why she's here to attend Hogwarts as an exchange student."

"Well I'm sure they'll be lucky to have you," the witch beamed.

Before Sakura could reply, a shadow fell over the four of them. Whirling, Sakura saw a golem looming high above her. It was missing an arm and its inner light was faded, but its remaining fist rose with deadly purpose, and she was crouched on the floor, out of position to attack it.

Before the golem could strike, however, it froze and then shuddered with staccato impacts from behind. Sakura counted sixty-four in less than a second. The golem's light died entirely, and it collapsed into a multitude of fairly small stones that rained down on her. A few bounced off of Sakura hard enough to bruise as she sheltered the boy beside her, but all in all she couldn't complain. A firm hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her clear of the rubble pile. Looking up, she saw Neji's blank eyes studying her. "If you're going to wade into a melee, at least watch your back," he muttered. "I'd rather not be completely alone here."

Sakura smiled at him. "Thank you Neji," she replied sweetly.

Neji only grunted and looked away. "Can we get out of here?" he asked Remus quietly. "We've already attracted too much attention."

Leaving proved difficult, unfortunately. Aurors – who sounded like the wizarding equivalent of ANBU – quickly sealed off the area. Healers tended to the many wounded and removed the fewer dead. House elves entered nervously to remove the remnants of the golems. The aurors started interviewing everyone present for the attack, and Sakura didn't like the number of thoughtful looks she and Neji got when it became clear that other than experienced adults, they were the only ones who'd fought back successfully, bringing down a golem each pretty much single-handedly. Remus talked quickly, assuring the aurors that they were simply students of martial magic from abroad, but she wasn't sure everyone was buying that story.

Things got worse when the Minister of Magic himself appeared on the scene. Watching him silently, Sakura quickly pegged Cornelius Fudge as the worst sort of bureaucrat. He hemmed and hawed and blustered, and it quickly became clear from his loud, pointed interrogations of the aurors that he was looking for someone to blame for what appeared to be a terror attack on the Ministry on his watch. After discussions with the aurors, he glanced over at Neji and Sakura, taking in their plainly foreign features. _Uh-oh,_ Sakura thought as she watched his already-flushed face turn even redder. Neji gave her a 'told you so' look as Fudge stormed over.

"You two!" Fudge said to Sakura and Neji imperiously. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Sakura and Neji bowed respectfully and introduced themselves. "We are students from abroad interested in enrolling at Hogwarts' for an exchange semester," Sakura explained politely. Fudge demanded that they produce their residency papers, which they promptly handed over to one of the aurors. The fact that their documents were in order didn't seem to please Fudge in the least.

"And you," Fudge growled at Remus, looking down his nose at the slender, mousy man. "What brings an… individual like you to the Ministry today?"

Remus accepted the veiled insult with a polite expression. "Chaperoning these two," he replied calmly. "They made my nephew's acquaintance overseas, and I offered to show them around London."

"Hmmph," Fudge growled with a disturbing gleam in his eyes, "a likely story. A _werewolf_ and two _suspiciously competent_ little foreigners just happen to wander into the heart of magical Britain on the same day as a heinous terrorist attack?"

Sakura's heart sank, especially when she saw the looks of disgust from the crowd directed at Remus when his condition was named. _Fudge is looking for a scapegoat, anything to make it seem like he's responding to this attack; he doesn't care about guilt._ "I don't believe in coincidences," Fudge blustered. "But I do believe that our fine aurors should examine you all a bit more closely; perhaps with a bit of veritaserum?"

Sakura and Neji exchanged an alarmed look. They'd learned what veritaserum was, and they absolutely could not take the risk that it would work on them. "Minister, there's no cause to-" Remus protested.

"Silence!" Fudge thundered. "Take them away!"

"You'll do no such thing, father," a strident voice called out as the aurors moved in on Remus, Sakura and Neji. Sakura watched in surprise as the well-dressed witch they'd saved stepped forward to glare at Fudge, her young son in tow. He was hiding his face in the folds of her robes, but peered out to give Sakura a shy, gap-toothed smile.

"Constance?" Fudge faltered in the face of the young woman's anger. "What… what are you doing here?"

"I brought Phillip to visit his grandpa at work," Constance fumed, "and we'd both be dead if not for that girl there," she pointed one perfectly manicured finger at Sakura. "She destroyed one of those… constructs that was trying to kill us, and she treated Phillip's wound to boot. The boy and their chaperone risked their lives fighting as well; I hardly think the masterminds of this attack would place themselves in the middle of it." She glanced at Sakura and Neji before looking back to her father. "Besides, they look a bit young to be taking on the Dark Mark, don't you think?"

Whatever a Dark Mark was the crowd reacted, visibly recoiling and murmuring uneasily. Fudge seemed to be sweating a bit. "Now Constance, there's no evidence that this was the work of You-Know-Who's followers…"

"Who else but _his_ lackeys would be so bold?" Constance shot back. "If you want to do something useful with your aurors, father, send them after Bellatrix Black, not a pair of exchange students!"

Fudge was an ass, but he wasn't a moron. Sakura saw him glance around the room and realize that he'd lost his momentum. He turned almost purple, but stormed off without another word. The aurors exchanged looks, shrugged and moved on with their work.

"Thank you," Sakura whispered to Constance when they were more or less alone.

Constance smiled at her. "I'm the one who owes you and your friends my thanks. Please don't think too poorly of daddy. He means well, and he wants these…" she frowned, "disturbing incidents to end. He takes the responsibility of his office seriously."

"I understand," Sakura replied diplomatically.

"So," Constance moved on, smiling brightly. "Will you two be headed to Hogwarts next week?"

Sakura and Neji glanced at Remus, who nodded. "Hopefully. We're staying in London for now; I'd intended to show them around."

"Marvelous," Constance replied. "Well, since I'm not going to have to take my son to St. Mungo's, I insist you all join us for lunch." Neji and Sakura tried to politely decline, but Constance wouldn't hear of it. They found themselves dragged along more or less by force of will to Constance's home, a penthouse apartment in a high rise overlooking Diagon Alley. It was filled with every possible luxury both magical and mundane, and over a delicious meal Sakura realized that their host was shrewd and intelligent, if more than a little entitled, understandable given her place among the magical elite. She was glad that Remus had gone into a lot of detail in inventing their backstories, and gladder that she and Neji had both studied those details. As a result they were able to lie convincingly about a life in a faraway country they'd never actually visited.

Constance was generous in her gratitude; after lunch she sent for tailors to completely replace Sakura, Neji and Remus' clothes, rather worse for the wear after the battle. When they parted ways she dispatched them in a chauffeured car to the rather more modest hotel were Remus had booked rooms for them.

"You got lucky," Neji said when he and Sakura were alone. "If that woman hadn't shamed her father into backing down we'd both be in serious trouble. I don't know what these people would do to us if they understood what we were, but the kind of experimentation Orochimaru was famous for comes to mind."

Sakura sighed. "What do you want me to say, Neji?" she asked in frustration. "Maybe you were right that keeping our heads down would have been smarter. Or maybe Fudge would have singled us out anyways, and without Constance to protect us. The bottom line is that I became a shinobi because I wanted to help people. Granted I was thinking about the people of Konoha and not London, but the point stands: that's my nindo. If I see innocent lives in danger when I have the power to make a difference, I'll do the exact same thing again."

Neji flopped back on his bed with a sigh. "You really are his cousin," he said mournfully.

Sakura grinned. "I'm going to take that as a compliment," she replied sunnily, "and when Naruto's drive to help people brings him to our rescue, you'll be glad for it."

Neji rolled over, turning his back to her without comment. Sakura stuck her tongue out at his back and made a silly face at him. She was rewarded with a reluctant chuckle. "Get some rest," Neji advised her. "If our arrival at this school is as tumultuous as their Ministry was, we'll need to be sharp for it."

Sakura had settled down for a nap when Neji spoke again. "If memory serves, these wizards said repeatedly that there's no one like us in this whole world. They were very clear that there's no one here with chakra; right?"

Sakura rolled over to look at him curiously on the next bed over. "Yes… why?"

"No reason," Neji replied innocently. She glared hard at his back, but he said nothing more, and eventually she drifted off to sleep.


	41. Liberation

Chapter Forty: Liberation

* * *

Kushina Uzumaki was curled up on her narrow cot trying to sleep when the vault door connecting her buried cell to the rest of the world opened. She sat up, wondering with dread what unpleasantness Croaker intended to visit on her this time. The man who entered was not Croaker, however, but Severus Snape. She studied him without a word, hoping against hope for another chance to convince him to help her. By her own slightly fuzzy count she had been Saul Croaker's prisoner – _more like 'favorite lab rat',_ she thought angrily – for a year and a half. She refused to let him break her, but with each day powerless, each day in the cage Dumbledore had put her in, her worries grew. She worried about Harry, and the certainty that Voldemort or his followers would make another attempt on her son's life while she was locked away.

"Well?" Snape said after they'd studied each other in silence for several minutes. "No more pleas for aid?"

Kushina frowned. She pointed to her throat, and then made a slashing motion with her hand. "You can't speak?" Snape guessed. Kushina nodded immediately. "What did Croaker do to you?" Kushina moved one finger over the cell wall to spell out the three words of the curse Croaker had cast on her. She watched Snape's dark, keen eyes follow her movements, and when she was done he laughed. "Oh. So you can speak, but it will hurt like wasps stinging the inside of your throat if you do." Kushina nodded with a scowl. "I suppose I could remove the spell so we can have a little chat… if you ask nicely."

Kushina glared at Snape, but he just stood there with an amused smirk on his face. Eventually she lowered her eyes in defeat. "Please," she whispered. Immediately she fell to her knees, clutching her neck and choking back a scream that would have made the pain worse. Stinging agony assaulted every centimeter of her throat. Croaker's curse punished her single word for several long seconds before Snape muttered a counter spell and sent it through the damned glass that let most kinds of magic in, but wouldn't let any jutsu in Kushina's arsenal _out_.

"You're cruel sometimes, Severus," Kushina told Snape in a voice rusty from disuse.

"I could always put the spell back," he replied. She glared but didn't retort. "What did you do to upset Croaker?"

Kushina shrugged, getting back to her feet. "He didn't like the way our last conversation ended," she admitted, "he decided if I wasn't going to tell him what he wanted to know then I shouldn't speak at all. I've been like that for more than a month, Severus. Croaker's getting worse; I think he'd have dissected me already if he hadn't promised Dumbledore that I'd remain alive and… relatively unharmed."

Snape studied her, his hands clasped behind his back. "So you're still interested in getting out of there, I take it."

"Please don't taunt me Severus," Kushina said wearily. "You know I would do anything to be free to protect my son."

Snape shook his head. "I'm not attempting to goad you. I've given your… parting offer… some thought since we last met."

She studied him, hardly daring to hope. Severus Snape didn't appeal to Kushina at all, but part of her was Lily, and Lily had loved Snape, might have chosen him if not for James. "I meant it," she said. "Let me out of here… let me protect Harry… and I'll be Lily for you."

"That would be one condition of your release," Snape agreed. "There would be others."

Kushina's eyes narrowed. "Such as?"

"You would swear not to harm or kill me, and to do your utmost to shield me from harm. You would swear to obey me. You would swear to keep from Harry Potter the knowledge that you are still alive or the fact that Headmaster Dumbledore turned on you."

Kushina had been expecting the first two, but the third made her jaw drop. "What? Why?"

"Because that knowledge would certainly result in Harry Potter's departure from Hogwarts," Snape explained, "and likely from Britain entirely."

"Damn right," Kushina retorted. "I'd take Harry far from this cursed country, where any Death Eaters that followed him would be outsiders, spotted and dealt with easily."

Snape nodded with an ironic smile. "And the Dark Lord would win; without Harry Potter to oppose him this nation would fall under the horrors of his rule. That, I cannot allow."

"Not this prophecy bullshit again," Kushina groaned.

"I know the power of prophecy," Snape snapped at her, "and so did Lily. This stubborn refusal to believe is yours alone. Harry Potter will ultimately face Voldemort and only one will live. That will happen; that has been foretold. You could spirit him off to a remote mountaintop and it would still take place, with countless innocents suffering needlessly in the interim. What I am offering you is the chance to tip the scales in Harry's favor by becoming a player on the board once again; a player following _my_ direction."

Snape paused to take several slow breaths. "I believe the Headmaster was partially in error; he allowed his pride and his irritation with you to drive him into an overreaction. No prophecy mentions you, so you cannot kill Voldemort. Fighting all of Harry's battles for him would hobble his growth; you would doom him with the best of intentions. But no foretelling states that you cannot play some part in aiding Harry in the war to come; others surely will. Already he forms useful alliances at Hogwarts."

Kushina forced down her instinctive dislike of Snape's demands and thought about them. "How am I to aid Harry without revealing myself to him?"

Snape smiled thinly. "Your abilities make you something of a chameleon, do they not? Once free of this place you will become someone new; a fresh piece on the board."

Kushina took a deep breath. "Keep you alive, obey you and keep the damn secret? Fine. I can do that, Severus. If I swear these things you'll free me to protect Harry?"

Snape nodded. "I will. But as sincere as I believe you to be, I'm not content to take your word alone. I knew Lily… but you're a stranger to me, Kushina. You'll swear those things to me under an unbreakable oath."

Kushina stared, both halves of her shocked by the suggestion. "I have no magic to swear by, Severus." She would have just agreed, but Lily's memories suggested that the oath would fail if its conditions could not be met.

"Wizards traditionally swear the oath by their magic, true," Snape noted. "But with a minor modification the unbreakable oath can be sworn on other personal properties. A Muggle, for instance, could swear an unbreakable oath to a wizard… on their life."

Kushina's eyes narrowed. "And then I would die immediately if I refused any order from you? No."

Snape shrugged. "It's your choice." He turned to go.

"I could tell Croaker about your offer," Kushina jabbed at him. "He seems chummy with Dumbledore."

Snape directed a lazy smile over his shoulder. "I'll take my chances. Neither of them trusts you, Kushina."

"Wait!" Kushina called out before Snape left. He turned around with an amused look, and she bit her lip hard. "I won't swear on my life… but I'll swear to you as a wizard would; I'll swear on my chakra."

"And that is…?" Snape asked curiously.

"Chakra is the energy that fuels my abilities; it is to me what magic is to you. Without my chakra I'd be as weak as an ordinary woman… a Muggle."

"Interesting," Snape murmured. "You understand that if any of that is a lie the oath will fail and I will walk out that door."

"I'm telling the truth," Kushina insisted, "and that's more information about me than Croaker's gotten from a year and a half of torment." She didn't want to risk her life _or_ her chakra, but she knew – because Lily knew – that wizards raised away from Muggles, even smart ones like Snape, underestimated what a properly motivated person could do, even a 'powerless' one. She was desperate enough to take Snape's deal, but she was determined to preserve even a thin hope if he turned out to be truly changed from the man Lily had loved.

Snape returned to the ledge. Drawing his wand, he spelled a set of stairs from the stone, allowing him to climb up to stand directly before her. He placed his hand on the cell wall and she did the same. Green light seeped from the tip of his wand and bound their wrists together through the glass. "Speak the oath," Snape instructed.

"I, Kushina Uzumaki, swear by my chakra," Kushina began. "I swear not to knowingly harm Severus Snape, and to shield him from harm to the best of my ability." The magic of the spell burrowed into her arm, with a disconcerting tingling singing along her nerves. "I swear to obey Severus Snape in all things save for threats to the lives of Harry Potter, Sirius Black or Remus Lupin." Snape's eyes flashed at her addition to that oath, but he let it stand, and the magic stabbed up her arm to her shoulder. "I swear to conceal from the aforementioned three that I am alive and that I was unjustly imprisoned by Albus Dumbledore." The remorseless heat of the oath reached her heart, coiling around it, and then Kushina felt it spread like vines through her entire chakra network, embracing it. "This I, Kushina Uzumaki, swear by my chakra." The magic binding her wrist broke and Kushina pulled her arm back with a gasp. Her heart skipped a beat… and then resumed its orderly procession.

"It is done," Snape said calmly. "Now, let's defeat this cage." He waved his wand, and the walls of the narrow cave distorted. Squared-off spars of stone shot out to form a sturdy cradle under the cell. "There. Now I wonder how many of these mirrors I have to break to free you."

"Won't the Unspeakables notice?" Kushina asked.

Snape smiled thinly and shook his head. "The Ministry is about to be very distracted." Drawing a sealed vial of red fluid from inside his sleeve, Snape dropped it. The vial took several seconds to reach the magma below. As soon as it was vaporized the whole Ministry shook slightly.

"What was that?" Kushina asked.

"A very powerful ward being disrupted for a few seconds," Snape replied before stepping back onto the ledge as a more powerful tremor rattled the cave. Raising his wand he started hurling destructive hexes, shattering one glowing blue mirror after another. After the first half dozen mirrors broke so did the chains holding up Kushina's cell. But the thick grid of stone Snape had created held up. When the last mirror broke Kushina curled her hand into a fist and punched the cell wall in front of her. It shattered outward and she crowed in delight. "Hell yes," she declared as she leapt through the gap, landing in front of Snape.

"Now you're free," Snape said, "for a given value of freedom, anyways."

"I'd _really_ like to kill Croaker before we leave, if you wouldn't mind."

Snape laughed. "Oh no, my dear Kushina I don't mind at all. Go right ahead. In fact, kill every Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries; several of them witnessed my presence here today. Return here once you're done." He started assembling several curved, runed pieces of metal into a tripod on the stone floor.

Kushina felt her oath close its grip around her heart as Snape delivered the command, squeezing for a moment. She wasn't really opposed to the order though; in her other life she'd killed people in the course of shinobi missions for far less cause than being Saul Croaker's co-workers. "As you command. This will only take a few minutes; I'll be right back," Kushina told Snape before flickering down the hall in a shunshin. The gray-haired witch outside of the second vault door didn't even have time to look up before Kushina's fist plowed through her rib cage, pulping everything it contained.

* * *

Saul Croaker looked up from the ancient tome he was reading in irritation at the first tremor. "Did those idiots in Potions blow up a lab again?" he groused. A moment later the second tremor followed and an evacuation alert started sounding outside of the Department of Mysteries. The spell didn't work inside the Department, of course; the DoM contained too many important things to be lost to happenstance. Instead, a different set of emergency protocols lowered four massive steel shutters into the sole hallway connecting the DoM to the rest of the Ministry. The DoM was designed to be self-contained even if something happened to the rest of the Ministry building.

Confident that his subordinates could handle the isolation protocols, Saul got back to his translation. It wasn't until sometime later that it dawned on Croaker none of the other Unspeakables had reported in. Putting his work aside with a sigh, he stepped out of his office and headed down a short hallway to the main floor of the department to see what everyone was up to. He turned a corner and promptly tripped over something soft and yielding.

Irate, Saul looked to see what some idiot had left lying in the middle of the doorway – and paled at the sight of a corpse staring at him with one eye. The other had been obliterated by a pen driven three-quarters of its length into the man's skull. Scrambling to his feet and drawing his wand, Croaker saw a dozen other bodies, some dead at their desks, others cut down in flight. All had been killed with makeshift weapons: pens, halves of scissors, paperweights and more.

"God... what's happening?" Saul murmured to himself, hastily weaving layers of magical protections around himself. In the silence following his words he heard a whisper that came from nowhere and everywhere.

 _Croaker… Croooa-keeer…_

"Who's there?" Saul screamed. "What is this?"

 _I told you that I'd kill you once I got out of that cell…_

Saul's pale face went dead white. "Kushina? That's impossible. It's impossible!" A flicker of motion from the dark rafters far above the presaged a sharp piece of wood that flew right through his barriers and impaled his right arm through the wrist, sending his wand flying. Howling in pain, Saul stared in horror at the bloody length of a dead colleague's wand that had been broken off at the tip and turned into a jagged projectile. He scrambled for his wand, but another makeshift stake flew down and sank into his left shoulder. Saul screamed again, and in a flicker of motion Kushina was _there,_ her orange prisoner's jumpsuit spattered with fresh blood. She stomped on his wand, shattering it, and then glared at him, death flashing in her vividly blue eyes.

"I've never hurt someone just for personal satisfaction before," Kushina growled, "but for you? I'll make an exception."

Saul desperately cast a flesh dissolving hex, one he could manage without a wand. Kushina evaded it with contemptuous ease and then stabbed him in the gut with a third broken wand. He maintained enough focus to hurl a curse that would make Kushina's heart explode. She dodged that as well, and nailed his left hand to the desk beside him with yet another stolen wand. With both arms now useless and robbed of any means of casting spells Saul stared at Kushina in terror.

Kushina's grin was vicious. "It would be so easy to end you," she told him. "But why cut the fun short? Run, run, as fast as you can; I'll even give you a head start." With that Kushina flickered and vanished.

Whimpering, Saul tugged at the damaged wand pinning his hand to the desk until it splintered and freed him. He ran through halls and rooms littered with more bodies, finding not a single soul alive in the entire Department of Mysteries. Sobbing in pain and terror, his arms useless and his agonizing but wound bleeding, he ran. Saul reached the exit – and stared in horror at the huge, immobile shutters cutting him off from the rest of the Ministry; he'd forgotten that the alert was still in effect. Frantic, Saul shouted for help and kicked the multi-ton shutter, praying that someone on the other end of the hall would hear him.

A slender, impossibly strong hand closed on the back of Saul's neck, and his breath froze in his throat. "Oh, that's too bad," Kushina whispered in his ear. "It looks like there's nowhere to run."

"Kushina, please," he choked out.

"Tsk tsk tsk," Kushina chided him. "No pleas. Do you remember how many times I asked you to stop? When you dissolved my leg bones one by one? When you ordered that poor house elf to stop feeding me for a week? When you made my cell colder than a winter night to see what my hypothermia response looked like? Do you recall showing me mercy - hell, human decency - even _once_?"

Saul Croaker, head of the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries, pissed himself.

"Oh, now that's just sad," Kushina said of the growing puddle of urine on the floor under their feet. "I suppose it's too much to expect a monster in this world to at least die with some dignity."

"This… world…?" Saul choked out.

"Oh yes," Kushina whispered. "That's my secret, you see. I'm not like you because I'm not from around here. I died on another world, and came back to life in yours. Now you know the truth you've tried to drag out of me for so long. Enjoy it."

Saul Croaker's last mortal experience was the sight of the shutter approaching his face very quickly. Shinobi fist, steel wall and wizard skull met with incredible force. The last of the three was the first to give way.

* * *

When Kushina returned to Snape in the cave where she'd been imprisoned, she saw that he'd been busy. She studied the pyramid of runed metal rods he'd built, complete with a glowing purple gem in its center, hanging from a string tied to the apex. "We're pretty well sealed in here, Severus," Kushina informed him. "Even I'm going to have a hard time breaking through the steel barrier up there, and that doesn't even account for the wizards presumably filling the rest of the building."

"More than even you could fight Kushina," Snape murmured. "Fortunately that won't be necessary. We're going to apparate out."

"We're going to apparate out of the Department of Mysteries?" Kushina asked. "Aren't there about a million wards preventing that?"

"Actually there are three," Snape noted clinically, tapping the purple gem and setting it to swinging in circles within the pyramid. "One was knocked offline along with the Floo regulator. The other two… are the reason for this little device. Take my hand." Kushina did so promptly, and Snape raised his wand, his eyes intent on the swinging pendulum. "Six, seven, eight… we're gone."

Snape and Kushina vanished into thin air a heartbeat before the swinging gem finished its tenth rotation – and exploded. Above and around it, rock and concrete were shredded into gravel by the force of an enormously powerful implosion charm designed for the controlled demolition of large magical structures. It certainly did an admirable job of collapsing the lowest section of the Department of Mysteries.

* * *

Ginny Weasley lay on her bed in the Ravenclaw dormitories and toyed with a pale green marble that glowed with an inner light. She rolled it across her palm and between her fingers, delighting in the warm flow of magic between the tiny orb and her own core. She brought it close to her face, smiling at her own reflection in its surface. Then for an instant her reflection was replaced by that of a young boy, his lips parted in a silent scream. Pouting, Ginny set the marble aside on her bedside table. "Way to ruin the moment, Colin."

Ginny sighed a bit petulantly. She was supposed to be at quidditch practice, and she'd so been looking forward to honing her skills for her next face off against Harry Potter. She knew he wouldn't be idle, and she couldn't afford to be less than her best. A boy like Harry needed an equal, and she wanted – needed – to be that equal; to earn his notice, his respect… and hopefully his interest, when they were both a bit older. Unfortunately thanks to stupid Colin Creevey quidditch practice was cancelled along with most other extracurricular activities. Her roommates were in the library studying, but only because the Head Girl of Ravenclaw had organized the prefects to escort groups of younger students there when they needed to go after hours.

Ginny hadn't meant to hurt Colin. He was just so… _annoying_! After she beat Harry at quidditch – a memory that brought a fond smile to her face – most of the Gryffindors glared and ground their teeth and hated her even more than when she'd just been the 'turncoat' Weasley. But not Colin; he wouldn't stop following her around, snapping pictures with his stupid little camera and grinning at her with that stupid face when she told him to leave her alone. Eventually she realized he had a crush on her, and the thought made her sick to her stomach. She was meant for Harry Potter; no lesser partner would do.

Ginny had simply wanted Colin to go away, but after one picture and one goofy smile too many she'd snapped. A quick glance up and down the hall had confirmed that they were alone. She'd drawn her wand, intending nothing more harmful than a Bat Bogey Hex to teach him a lesson about following her around, but her anger had awoken… something. The words that poured from her lips and the serpentine movements of her wand had been alien to Ginny. Colin must have seen something in her that scared him because he started to run, but a coiling twin helix of pale green light had leapt from the tip of her wand and curved through the air to strike Colin in the back. He'd frozen in mid-step and then levitated into the air, motes of jade light seeping from his _eyes_. They coalesced into an orb the size of an apricot that nestled in Ginny's hand as though it knew itself to belong there.

When the spell ended Colin floated unmoving in midair and Ginny fled, but she took the orb with her. She knew it belonged to her. Glancing at the marble on her bedside table, Ginny sighed again. Holding it made her feel _alive_ , like nothing she'd experienced before had ever really been living. Unfortunately every time she handled the orb it got smaller. Just days after its creation most of its mass was gone.

"Oh well," Ginny murmured as she picked up the marble and absently started playing with it again, relishing the electric thrill as it added magic to her own. Her jade dragon was a warm, comforting weight wrapped around her upper arm; it fit her better with each passing month. "I suppose I'll just have to make another."


	42. Hunted

Chapter Forty-One: Hunted

* * *

Albus Dumbledore stepped carefully through the wreckage that filled the Department of Mysteries; it was still an active crime scene, after all. Ministry personnel were swarming through the area days after the devastation that had been wrought under the cover of the golem attack on the Floo Hall.

So secured and sealed off was the Department of Mysteries from the rest of the Ministry that it had been quite some time before anyone noticed that the shutters weren't being unsealed from the inside once the fighting had ended. Rounding up some off-duty Unspeakables to open the spelled shutters from the outside had taken longer, and what was discovered inside was far worse than the embarrassing and visible but ultimately low-casualty golem attack.

Dumbledore stopped near the entrance, where a pool of blood had a spell tag hovering in the air above it. The tag identified where Saul Croaker's mutilated body had been found, his skull so badly crushed that blood testing had been required to positively identify him. Glancing up, Dumbledore could see a dried smear of blood, brains and bone shards on the inside of the raised shutter.

Dumbledore turned at approaching footsteps to see a tall, muscular man with dark skin, colorful robes and shaved head. "What brings you to my crime scene, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore put on a mournful expression and gestured to Saul's final resting place. "Professor Croaker's untimely passing, Kingsley." he replied. "He was a friend of long standing, and we shared some interesting projects recently."

Kingsley Shacklebolt nodded gravely. "I see. Well, this is quite a loss to all of us," he admitted. Kingsley looked out over the rest of the main chamber, where other aurors were working over other spots where an Unspeakable had fallen. "I still have no idea how this was done, or why. The Department of Mysteries is supposed to be the most secure part of the Ministry, yet someone walked in here and slaughtered more than a dozen of the most competent and dangerous British wizards I know outside of the aurors." He sighed. "We've managed to test some of the… less damaged wands. Other than Croaker, none of the Unspeakables even cast a spell in their own defense; they were killed before they knew they were in danger. Who could do this? What kind of spell work would escape their notice?"

Dumbledore had his suspicions, but he kept those thoughts to himself. "It is a mystery," Dumbledore agreed.

"And then there's that," Kingsley pointed up. At first Dumbledore thought he was gesturing to the spot where Croaker's head had met the shutter, but then he noticed what was above it, hidden until he took a few long steps back. The stone wall, more than ten meters above the ground, was deformed, raised sections spelling out words. Albus started sweating a bit as he read them.

 **YOU WILL NEVER CAGE ME AGAIN**

Dumbledore coughed. "Those are ominous words indeed, but would they not imply that one of the Department of Mysteries' special cases escaped and wrought this havoc?" Saul and his predecessors had locked away for study a number of individuals too dangerous for St. Mungo's and beyond any hope of curing. Most of those were noted in the public record, unlike Kushina who had been very much an 'off the books' inmate.

Kingsley nodded dubiously. "It's a possibility," he muttered, "but we won't know until we manage to dig down to the detention level and start counting bodies to see if any are missing. Whoever blew apart the lower levels knew what they were doing. There's five hundred meters of rubble sitting on top of the isolation cells."

Dumbledore's breath caught. "The Hall of Prophecies wasn't damaged, I hope?"

Kingsley nodded. "It held up, fortunately, and the surviving Unspeakables are cataloging the shelves; so far it looks like none were taken or destroyed." He looked at Dumbledore curiously. "You said you were working with Croaker, Albus? Anything you can share?"

"I can show you," Dumbledore replied. "Saul stored the item in question in his office." Crossing the main room took some time, as they had to detour around sections of half-collapsed floor marked as unsafe. In Croaker's office, Dumbledore tapped his wand carefully on a locked cabinet. One drawer slid open, revealing a large diamond resting on a velvet cushion. Writhing darkness lurked in the heart of the gem, contained by the runes engraved along its outer facets.

"Bloody hell, what is that?" Kingsley exclaimed.

"A very dark piece of magic I came into possession of," Dumbledore said as he picked the diamond up carefully. "Saul was studying and safeguarding it at my request, but given his passing and this… incursion… it seems I must find a safer home for it."

Kingsley looked dubious, but after skimming Croaker's notes in the drawer where the gem had been stored he nodded. "Technically no one should be removing anything yet, but since it's you, Albus, I suppose there's no harm. I know where to find you, after all," he chuckled.

Dumbledore smiled. "Indeed. Speaking of which, I should be returning to Hogwarts. You will, of course, let me know if there's any other way I can assist with this investigation."

Once he was away from Kingsley and out of the Department of Mysteries, however, Dumbledore's brow was furrowed by a worried frown. The words formed in the stone – and the rather grisly manner of Saul Croaker's death – confirmed his worst fears; Kushina was free. Even more troubling was the timing and means of her escape. She simply could _not_ have escaped the Daedalus Cell without aid from a master of magic, and the golem attack that had provided the distraction bore all the hallmarks of an action by Voldemort's followers.

Knowing what he did about Kushina's speed and lethality, Albus apparated directly from the Ministry to Hogwarts. He was the castle's master, and confident that Kushina could reach neither him nor Harry within its wards. The end of the school year was approaching, however, and something would have to be done about the situation before Harry went home for the summer. Under no circumstances could Harry or his guardians be allowed to find out that Kushina was still alive.

* * *

Harry knew something was coming to a head when Hogwarts' entire student body was assembled in the Great Hall with little warning. The entire school had been on edge for days, ever since two fourth-year Slytherin boys had been found drifting in the air, side by side, in an empty classroom. The two were known to be a couple, and it was surmised that they'd slipped out of the dorms for some privacy to fool around. Now they rested in the infirmary alongside Colin Creevey, who had yet to wake from enchanted slumber. Like Colin, the Slytherin pair seemed to have been robbed of the very essence of their magic.

Normally a full student assembly would have packed the Great Hall, but looking around Harry could see plenty of empty seats. The last few days had seen a number of departures. Oddly, Harry saw that more than a dozen students whose parents had pulled them out of the school were present in the Great Hall. Odder still, all of them were girls of various ages and all of them looked confused, upset or both.

Murmurs of countless conversations faded as Headmaster Dumbledore entered the room. His personal presence was undiminished, but Harry could see that he looked tired; rumors had it that he'd barely slept since Colin was attacked.

"Students of Hogwarts," Dumbledore said sadly, "I regret to inform you that another student has fallen to the assailant who stalks these halls. Malcom Wilburforce was found in the hallway outside of the Charms classroom in a similar state to the others." That provoked gasps of shock from many in the hall, and Harry's eyes narrowed.

Malcom was a seventh year and the Head Boy of Hufflepuff. If a nineteen-year old at the top of his class who rumor said was offered a slot in the auror's training program had been defeated by whoever was attacking students, then that person was very dangerous. Harry couldn't help but think about a book he'd read on serial killers. Colin had been attacked eight days ago. It had only been two since Raymond and Terrence had been found, and now a fourth victim had fallen. Each more experienced magically than then the last, and closer together in time.

"Whoever's doing this, they're escalating," Sakura Haruno murmured quietly, her thoughts mirroring Harry's. She and Neji sat near Harry, Hermione and Ron. They were the only exchange students who hadn't left already.

Up on the dais, Dumbledore continued talking. "Examination of young Mr. Creevey alone was inconclusive, but with multiple victims now resting in the infirmary, a cause for the condition of these students has been found. As disconcerting as it is, these incidents bear all of the hallmarks of veela attacks."

Once again, Harry noticed that it was the oldest students who had the strongest reaction to that news. Every seventh-year boy he could see had gone dead white. By contrast, the seventh-year girls didn't look scared so much as suspicious, eyeing each other and the younger female students.

"Most of you have not yet been introduced to veela in your Defense Against the Dark Arts class; they are not covered until the sixth year at earliest even for advanced students. I have asked Professor Lockhart to offer everyone a summary of the threat veela represent, for they are dark indeed."

Lockhart stepped forward, not smiling at all for once. His jaw was set and his gaze steely as he stepped forward. He tossed his cape open with a dramatic flourish to reveal that he wore his wand in a dueling holster on his wrist, highly unusual for a teacher. Harry had to admit the man did look every inch a wizarding hero.

"Veela are, as the headmaster stated, dark creatures of the most insidious sort," Lockhart informed the students. "They are not physically powerful, like giants or dragons. They are not ephemeral horrors like boggarts or dementors. But they are every bit as vile. A veela is in fact virtually indistinguishable in physical appearance from an ordinary witch, and like a witch they possess the ability to use magic. Some researchers have even theorized that they once were witches before dark magic transformed them into something… _other_. The exact origin of the veela is unknown; what we do know is that the first veela entered Europe with the return of Marco Polo's famed expedition to the Orient. Unfortunately, it reproduced before being slain and its descendants have haunted the continent ever since."

Lockhart paused for effect. "Veela are banned from entry into Britain, and attempting to assist one in entry is punishable by a dementor's kiss. For centuries the Ministry of Magic has kept the damned things out of our country. Unfortunately, it seems that a veela has somehow gained entry into Hogwarts."

"What makes a veela so dangerous?" several students shouted the question. "What can they do?" others asked.

Lockhart held up his hands. "I'm getting to that," he assured his audience. "While veela appear to be witches, they do not…" he coughed, glancing at Dumbledore, who nodded in resignation, "…procreate as magical folk or Muggles do. Instead they drain magic from unsuspecting wizards, leaving them in a state similar to the students attacked so far. Once they have collected enough magic they use it to create what amount to copies of themselves, altered only slightly in appearance from their 'mother'."

"What about witches?" Fred Weasley asked. "Veela don't fancy other birds?" He was grinning, and the question got some nervous laughter, but there was fear underneath.

Lockhart coughed. "There are no recorded instances of a veela draining the magic of a witch; it is speculated that they are not capable of doing so."

Both Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey stepped forward then. "It is of the utmost importance that the veela among us be identified immediately," Madam Pomfrey informed the students. "To that end, the Ministry has dispatched a number of inspectors. Every witch in the castle is assembled here. We will all immediately proceed to the site the Ministry personnel have set up in the testing hall, where examinations will be conducted."

 _So that's why every female student who left is back,_ Harry realized. Any number of young witches in the crowd started protesting vehemently with offended expressions, the pureblooded scions most of all. " _Every_ witch in the castle will be examined," Professor McGonagall called out over the chatter with a stern expression, "the staff included. This is not a game or a matter for personal offense; veela are dangerous. If the young men in the infirmary are to be saved, the veela must be found before it expends the magic it has stolen and creates more of its vile kind. We will all survive a bit of indignity to prevent that from happening."

The Great Hall's doors opened, and a number of mediwitches and aurors entered, all in Ministry uniforms. Witches of every year were promptly gathered up for the trip to the testing hall. Harry glanced at Sakura with concern, and saw a tightly controlled look of worry on her face. He didn't know what kind of 'examination' was about to be conducted, but it could very well expose the pink-haired kunoichi as a fraud. There was no time to discuss the problem, however, as Hermione and Sakura were rounded up with the rest of the Gryffindor girls and hustled out of the Great Hall.

* * *

Sakura didn't have to be an expert in reading people to know that the mood was tense. The mass of witches – and one nervous kunoichi – were surrounded by uniformed Ministry employees who were plainly there to make sure no one tried to slip off. Sakura considered trying to escape anyways, but even if she could evade that many alert eyes, her absence would almost certainly be noticed. B _etter to just go along with this 'exam' and use genjutsu if necessary. Problem is, I don't know what kind of test I'm about to be subjected to._

Most of the testing hall had been converted into a large locker room, separated into smaller sections by temporary partitions. Students were directed to split up and head to assigned locations. Sakura and Hermione wound up in the same area as a number of other first and second-year girls from different houses.

"All right girls, we have a lot of work to do today. To expedite this process here's what you all need to do," a graying mediwitch announced to them. "Remove your robes, shoes, wands and any jewelry or magical items you might be wearing. Place all of those items in a locker; they're spelled to open only for you, so don't worry about your valuables."

With some grumbling, the assembled girls stripped down to their underwear. Sakura undressed slowly, stomach churning. She and Neji had hidden their amulets under their robes without incident so far, but it seemed that was not going to be possible here. Reluctantly she slipped it off and put it in the locker.

Waiting to be called to this 'inspection' Sakura felt naked in a way that had nothing to do with standing around in her underwear. Without Remus' amulet, any of the adult wizards and witches around her could detect – with the right spell – that she had no magical core. She wasn't a 'Muggle', but to a wizard she would appear to be one, and that would immediately expose her as a fraud.

Time passed with nothing further happening. Sakura glimpsed other groups of girls being escorted to and from the back of the hall where the testing seemed to be taking place. Hers appeared to be one of the last groups, and Sakura started to hope that the veela – whoever it was – might be found before her group was called. Unfortunately, the testing proceeded apace for hours as the young witches grew increasingly bored and fidgety.

Eventually several of them had the need to visit the ladies' room, and were escorted there by a pair of watchful aurors. Alone in a stall, Sakura again debated making a break for it. Looking up, she could see the shadows above in the high vaulted ceiling. She could conceivably wall climb and hide among the buttresses, but what then? Her absence would definitely be noticed, and Remus had warned her and Neji that without their amulets, some of the outer layers of the castle's wards would probably affect them. She could very well find herself hunted and trapped on the Hogwarts' grounds.

On returning to the testing hall, Sakura heard the sound of a body striking the lockers and a cry of pain. Frowning, Sakura entered to discover there weren't any adults around, and the largest girl in the group – Millicent, Sakura recalled her name after a moment – had shoved Hermione against her locker and was looming over the smaller girl. "Admit it, fur freak," Millicent growled as the other girls in the area watched but did nothing to interfere, "you know who the veela is, so spill it."

"Why would I know that?" Hermione asked, eliciting another shove. "Oww, quit it!"

"You got that wolf's nose now, don'tcha?" Millicent demanded, getting in her face. "Like can sniff out like; you dark creatures all know each other on sight, I bet."

"You're mental," Hermione breathed in disbelief. "I… I'm nothing like-"

"You howl at the moon, don'tcha?" Millicent jeered. "Get _real_ hairy once a month? Tell us who the veela is and we won't have to see what color a freak like you bleeds." Millicent raised a round fist threateningly. Hermione flinched but held her ground.

Sakura reached Millicent as she started to swing her fist, capturing her wrist and holding it in place easily. Millicent was bigger, but Sakura was far stronger than a witch whose only regular exercise was shoveling food into her mouth. "Stop it," Sakura said calmly. "We're all scared, but that doesn't excuse-" That was when Millicent took a swing at her. Sakura stepped back to evade the blow. "Okay, you get that one for free. Next punch will cost you."

Millicent glared, but appeared a bit taken aback by someone who didn't seem scared of her at all. "How do we know you're not the veela, _foreigner_? Professor Lockhart said the first one came from Asia somewhere."

Sakura laughed. "I wasn't here for the first attack, dimwit. Draining someone's magic while I was in the lockdown of the Ministry following the attack there would be _quite_ a feat, don't you think?"

"Give it a rest, Millicent," Ginny Weasley said from where she'd been sitting against a locker with her eyes closed, apparently taking a nap of all things. "The folks from the Ministry will find the veela, and this will all be over. Until then shut up, sit down and stop making more of an ass of yourself than usual."

Millicent's jaw gaped for a moment, and a number of other girls stared at the tiny first-year, half Millicent's weight soaking wet, who had called her to task rather offensively. "What did you say to me runt?" Millicent growled, finding a new target for her anger.

"I think you heard me," Ginny murmured.

Predictably, Millicent reacted with her fists again. More surprising was Ginny turning into Millicent's reach, grasping her wrist as Sakura had – but accelerating the punch instead of stopping it. Sakura winced at the crunch when Millicent's hand struck Ginny's locker. Ginny followed up with an elbow to Millicent's gut. She ducked and twirled away from an attempted bear hug as Millicent howled in pain and anger, and danced back a step. "She already gave you a free swing," Ginny nodded to Sakura as Millicent cradled her wounded hand and fought to catch her breath. "Stop now; there's no easy mark for bullying here."

Most of the girls were staring as Millicent as she backed down with a murderous glare. Sakura, however, was studying Ginny with careful interest. She was aware that the redhead was considered a prodigy, the magical equivalent of Neji, but her handling of Millicent was something different. Reflexes one was gifted with, but the confidence and knowledge to go in on a larger opponent like that and not even be touched… that had to be taught, and none of her brothers knew how to fight like that. Harry was the only person on earth Sakura had met in their age group who knew how to fight like a shinobi, and he'd been raised by Naruto's birth mother of all people. Maybe one of Ginny's parents had taught her? Sakura resolved to ask Ron.

Finally, the Ministry inspectors came for them. Sakura, Hermione, Ginny and the others were taken to the back of the testing hall. One by one they were taken behind a screen, and the group dwindled in size. Sakura's heart hammered. _Moment of truth time… I_ _ **really**_ _miss my armor._

When it was down to just Hermione and Sakura and the mediwitch came out again, Hermione stepped up. "Please, I don't want to go in alone," she confessed to the woman in a frightened voice. "I'm scared; can my friend come with me?"

The mediwitch gave Hermione a look, taking in her fresh bruises. "All right honey; you're the last two anyways. C'mon." Once the mediwitch's back was turned Hermione nudged Sakura, and Sakura smiled back.

Sakura stood quietly next to Hermione as a nurse drew blood and then squirted a few drops of it into a bowl carved with runes on its inner service. The red blood shed a blue-green light, and the mediwitch nodded in approval. Then she drew her wand and pointed it at Hermione's chest. She muttered a spell, and for a moment a luminous orb appeared in the air between them. The mediwitch inspected it carefully before letting the spell end. "You have a fine magical core, and your blood tells true. You're not a veela. Now for you, pinkie; hop up on the table."

Sakura sat down on the table, carefully moving her fingers as she did so, blessing Hermione for arranging for her to see the testing procedure. She let the genjutsu go, and both mediwitch and nurse froze in place, their eyes going dull. "You're a genius Hermione," Sakura whispered. "Thank you."

"No problem," Hermione whispered, studying the pair of motionless adults nervously. "Are they going to be okay? The folks in class never do this when you use your tricks on them."

Sakura nodded. "They're fine. This is a deeper genjutsu than I usually use, but they're already alert and suspicious, and I need to be sure. Look normal now…" Sakura quickly took the syringe from the nurse's limp hand and jabbed it in her own arm, drawing some blood and squirting it into the bio waste bin before returning it. Then she held up a hand to Hermione, counted with her fingers from five, and on dropping the last one let the genjutsu fade.

"Well you're not a veela either. Are you two related?" The mediwitch commented as the nurse put a bandage on the needle mark in Sakura's arm. "I've rarely seen two magical cores so alike."

"We just met this year, but sometimes it feels like we're sisters," Hermione responded casually, and the two girls grinned at each other.

"Go back to your lockers and recover your belongings, then," the mediwitch dismissed them. Hermione and Sakura wasted no time departing.

* * *

The next day, Harry was pulled out of class and directed to the Headmaster's Office. Arriving in Dumbledore's sanctum he discovered that Professor Lockhart was already there, seated before Dumbledore's desk. Harry took the other seat, looking at the adults inquisitively.

"As you might have heard through the rumor mill Harry, yesterday's screening came up with no result," Dumbledore said. "Every witch resident in this castle was tested, and none was a veela. This… is a less than ideal outcome. More parents are pulling their students out of school."

Harry winced. "That's bad news… but why tell me?"

"I brought you both here because your research subject this year – the Chamber of Secrets – may be related to our mystery attacks."

Lockhart leaned forward, studying Dumbledore with sudden interest. "What do you mean, Headmaster?"

Dumbledore turned around and rose to his feet, pulling down a large tome with cracked leather bindings from a shelf. He set it down on his desk, and Harry studied it curiously; the book practically exuded age.

Lockhart studied it as well, but looked disappointed. "You've withheld potential research material, headmaster? Why?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Some of Hogwarts' records are restricted in their access to the headmaster, Gilderoy. In any event, this tome does not contain any hints at to the location of the Chamber of Secrets, else I would have shared that information at the start of the year. What it does contain, however, is pertinent information about Salazar Slytherin, penned by Rowena Ravenclaw herself."

"Still, headmaster…" Lockhart said, looking slightly offended.

"Peace, Gilderoy," Dumbledore said, handing the book over. "Take a look, and perhaps you'll understand why this tome has been consigned to the restricted archives for so long."

Lockhart opened the book to the pages Dumbledore had marked, and read quickly. His face was set when he looked up. "Damn it all… yes, I understand." He closed the book, and then glanced at Harry. "It seems that Salazar Slytherin – one of the school's founders! – broke the prohibition on the import of veela. More specifically, when he was travelling on the continent as a young wizard, a veela tried to steal his core. Instead he subdued and enslaved it, bringing it back to Britain on a magical leash as a sort of pet and secret weapon. Rowena suspected that he had unleashed it on enemies who died mysteriously, but she never had proof."

"Thus my suspicion," Dumbledore murmured, "that if the veela attacking students is not any of the witches known to be in the castle…"

"…it might be Sazalar's old pet, sealed away in the Chamber of Secrets," Lockhart finished the thought. "But if so, why emerge now?"

Dumbledore spread his hands. "You guess is as good as mine. Perhaps the previous opening of the Chamber decades ago set other events in motion. Or some mechanism of Salazar's has activated. I asked you two here merely to urge you to continue your research, and to be aware of the risks."

Lockhart smiled confidently. "This won't be the first time I've faced a veela, headmaster. If such a monster is in the Chamber, it will not remain free."

Dumbledore nodded before glancing at Harry. "Gilderoy knows this already Harry, but the veela should be taken alive if at all possible. Provided it has not yet expended the magic is has stolen, the condition of its victims can be reversed. If it dies, however, there is little hope that they will wake."

Harry nodded. "I understand, headmaster."

"I wish you both the best of luck, then."

* * *

Quirinus Quirrell stood silently in the living room of a modest London flat, wearing a patched coat and a knit cap, sporting a few days of stubble. Picking up a rag from the coffee table, Quirrell calmly wiped a coat of blood from the rune-carved blade of a knife in his hand.

Glancing down at the floor, Quirrell nodded gravely to the corpse of a pretty young blonde in the garb of a Ministry mediwitch, lying in a large pool of blood that had poured from her slit throat. "It w-was nothing p-personal, my dear," he assured her, tossing the bloody rag to lie near her body before sheathing the knife at his waist. Drawing his wand, Quirrell moved it silently and vanished into thin air.

* * *

"You ask too much, Severus," Kushina growled as she stood next to him, staring at the closed door in front of them. "He betrayed me! He put me in the hands of a torturer! He has endangered my son!"

"I'm not asking Kushina, I am commanding you. You will not attempt to harm him. You will be civil and deferential to him, just as Mildred would be, and you will not reveal anything to him that she would not know." Snape gave her an irritated sideways glance. "You are the one who has insisted relentlessly that I permit you a place closer to the boy. Well this is how it happens, so stop complaining and play your part!" The closed door chimed softly and then opened itself. Snape swept into the office beyond ahead of her, and she glared at his back.

Following Severus into the office, Kushina reflected that he was still very much an enigma to her in some ways. On one hand, he was a harsh taskmaster who threw abrupt commands at her far too frequently for comfort, commands that he knew she could not help but obey without being rendered powerless. On the other hand, the one command she'd been expecting… hadn't materialized.

When she'd made her offer to 'become Lily' for Severus, Kushina had expected to wind up sharing his bed. She'd viewed it as a price worth paying for Harry's safety. Yet physical intimacy was the one thing he'd not demanded of her. She'd spent ample time with him transformed into Lily's appearance and accessing her memories, but all they'd done was talk. Kushina had come to understand something about Snape: how profoundly lonely he was under the hard, snappish exterior. Lily had been perhaps his only real friend, for he was a hard and suspicious man who did not form bonds easily. His professional relationships were many and defined by respect and even admiration for his skills, but in her time in his home, Kushina figured out that no one ever visited him just to visit.

Shaking herself free of reminiscence, Kushina focused herself on the here and now, putting 'Kushina Uzumaki' out of her mind and submerging herself in the identity of 'Mildred Harken'. She'd cut her long hair short, just below her ears, and dyed it brown. She wore round black-framed glasses with thick lenses that made her eyes – dark instead of blue – more prominent. She didn't wear robes, but rather a sweater, a long skirt and plain shoes in dull, dark tones. The only indication that she wasn't a Muggle was an amulet around her neck enchanted to deflect the weakest of hexes. Any second-year Hogwarts student could provide themselves with better defense; such amulets were typically only worn by Squibs.

Kushina clasped her hands nervously before looking up over the rim of her glasses, where Severus was chatting with Albus Dumbledore and beckoning to her. She stepped forward, and felt a surge of anger inside of her as Dumbledore studied her with those wise, calm eyes. "Ms. Harken? Welcome to Hogwarts."

 _You miserable piece of shit,_ Kushina raged internally. _You put me at the mercy of a monster! You stole time from me; time with my son, time to neutralize his enemies and watch him grow._ A primal part of her itched to kill the old wizard, but the magic of the oaths she'd sworn pulsed warningly in her chakra network, and she put the pleasant fantasy aside. "It's an honor to be considered for this position, Headmaster Dumbledore," she said meekly, putting on the deferential body language of a Squib, a powerless individual raised on the edges of magical society, longing to be included but forever apart.

Dumbledore smiled at her. "To receive your application so quickly for our unexpected vacancy was a stroke of luck, especially when it comes from an individual with your qualifications, and a recommendation from a senior member of the faculty as well. So when can you start, Ms. Harken?"

Kushina looked up in surprise, eyes widening. She let Dumbledore see the confused gratitude of someone accustomed to the disdain of wizards, especially powerful ones. "You mean it?" she squeaked after a moment of shocked silence. "I've got the job?"

Dumbledore nodded gently. "Your previous employers provided glowing references, Ms. Harken. Of the applicants who applied on such short notice, you are by far the most qualified. The position of Hogwarts' caretaker is yours, if you still want it."

Kushina couldn't help a surge of resentment. _You're_ s _o kind to a powerless Squib when most wizards wouldn't be; the great Albus Dumbledore, hero to all. But stand between the great man and his grand plans, and the façade drops. You'd have made an excellent shinobi, in another world._ "Of course I want it! Headmaster, sir," she stammered. "Thank you so much for this opportunity."

Snape departed soon after with a parting look of warning. Dumbledore insisted Kushina sit with him. They went over the expectation and duties of the school's caretaker and in parting Dumbledore offered her a heavy ring of keys and advised her that the House elves had cleaned out her quarters and made everything ready for her. Kushina replied with Mildred's humbled, almost star-struck gratitude and departed. She was unsurprised to discover Snape waiting for her outside.

"Do I want to know what you did to the last caretaker, Severus?" Kushina asked as he walked her to her new quarters.

Snape chuckled. "No one was sad to see Argus Filch go," he replied. "I'm certain the students will love you simply for not being him. As to the circumstances of his departure… he left of his own free will. Mostly. The man was already terrified of veela for all that he had no magic for one of the creatures to take. I merely added something to his stock of liquor that… made his fears more immediate. He resigned his post abruptly soon after."

Kushina nodded, her eyes hardening at the mention of the veela, suddenly nothing like Mildred's. "I trust you'll have no objections if I take a stab at eliminating this creature?" Snape had been reluctant to tell her about the magical menace haunting her son's school, but he'd also paved her way to entering Hogwarts, so she was willing to forgive him for the moment.

"You think you can do better than specialists from the Ministry?" Snape asked with amusement. "Assuming you can do it without risking your cover or revealing your true capabilities, go ahead," Snape replied. "The school will be better off with that creature gone, wherever it's hiding."

Kushina offered a hard smile. "My new job is to know the halls of Hogwarts like the back of my hand," she replied. "Nothing that threatens my son is going to hide from me for long."


	43. Retaliation

Chapter Forty-Two: Retaliation

* * *

Naruto entered the Hokage's office expecting to see the smiling old man who had sat behind the desk his whole life. Instead, he discovered two different old men engaged in a quiet, intense argument in front of it. "It doesn't matter how dire the situation is Danzo," a tall white-haired shinobi growled. "That program was a mistake in the last war, and it would be a mistake in this one. There are depths to which Konoha shouldn't sink."

"My program won the last war at least as much as you and your famed teammates did, Jiraiya," Danzo Shimura shot back.

Genma, who had accompanied Naruto, cleared his throat respectfully. Danzo and Jiraiya both looked up and took the pair in at a glance. Naruto didn't know what to make of the expression on Jiraiya's face, but the way Danzo looked at him sent a chill down his spine. It wasn't a hostile look – he was used to those – but coldly speculative, like the bandaged old man was picking out the best kunai to kill someone with and he was one of the options.

"Genma, what brings you here today?" Jiraiya asked.

"My student came to me today with a rather… disturbing proposition," Genma replied, with a skeptical glance at Naruto. He'd actually said that Kyuubi's offer to help Naruto hunt Shukaku was a terrible idea and he was firmly against it, but he was more politic in public. "It's one I felt should be discussed with the Hokage. Is he in?"

Danzo shook his head. "The Hokage suffered a relapse this morning; as you know, he was gravely wounded defending this tower from that snake who founded Oto. He's undergoing treatment at the moment, and will likely not be available for several days. Until then the representatives of the Inner Council," Jiraiya cleared his throat, "and of course the revered Sannin here, are directing Konoha's forces. What matter has young Naruto brought to you?"

Genma gave Jiraiya a long look and then sighed. "Naruto, why don't you explain it to them?" Naruto dutifully recounted his conversation with Kyuubi to Danzo and Jiraiya. The former seemed fascinated, while the latter looked as disturbed as Genma had.

"No," Jiraiya said as soon as Naruto finished, "absolutely not."

"Let's not be so hasty, Jiraiya," Danzo countered. "If an entity as powerful as the nine-tailed fox is willing to lend its assistance to our retaliatory strike against Suna we'd be fools not to consider the offer."

"You'd be a fool to listen to anything that demon has to say," Jiraiya replied bluntly. "Tapping enough of its power to confront another jinchuuriki, even a young one, would be folly."

Naruto studied the man named Jiraiya. "Can you not talk over my head?" he asked, shrugging off Genma's warning hand on his shoulder.

Jiraiya blinked, and then turned to Naruto, crouching to reach his eye level. "You're right, Naruto; I hated it when people did that to me as a genin." He extended his hand, and Naruto took it, feeling the power of his grip. "I'm Jiraiya, formerly of the Sannin. I trained the man who created the seal that holds the Kyuubi inside of you, so I can say with some certainty that I know more about it than anyone alive."

"There's something you should know about your seal that the demon certainly didn't tell you, so I will. It was originally designed to open gradually as you mature, allowing you access to more of the Kyuubi's chakra once you're ready for it. What you need to understand is that each time you use more of the demon's power than you're ready for the channels in the seal that connect you to the Kyuubi break down a bit. That means it will be easier to use its power each time, but it also leaves you more vulnerable to its malign influence."

Jiraiya settled back on his heels. "It's a bit disturbing that the demon can talk to you already; I'm not sure exposure to its malice is something you're ready for. But I suppose it's understandable given how much of the bijuu's power would be required to mend a fatal wound."

Naruto rubbed the circular scar on the side of his neck absently, wincing as he remembered. "So what if I can hear Kyuubi?" Naruto asked defensively. "It's not like I'm going to do everything he says. I'm only here because this other jinchuuriki needs to pay for what he did, and Kyuubi's offering to help."

"Let's give that jinchuuriki a name, shall we?" Danzo Shimura interjected. "Gaara Sabaku, the Kazekage's youngest son. A psychotic and unstable child who's probably killed almost as many people in Suna as he did here."

Jiraiya gave Danzo an irritated look, but replied to Naruto's question. "The demon's influence only begins with speech. If you overuse its chakra it can influence your thoughts and even your actions. Do you want that?"

Naruto shivered; the memory of the Kyuubi's power filling him with alien drives after saving his life was all too fresh. "No, of course not, but-"

"But that will happen if you come to rely on the demon's power instead of cultivating your own." Jiraiya put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "I know you want to help Naruto, and I applaud the sentiment, but you can't win this war for us on your own, and no one is asking you to."

"Agreed," Danzo said, "but a retaliatory strike against Suna is already being planned, and if young Naruto wishes to contribute to bringing their jinchuuriki to justice for the indiscriminate slaughter of this village's defenders – including his poor young cousin – I see no reason to reject help that could preserve more lives."

Jiraiya glanced at Naruto in concern. "You… lost family?"

Naruto nodded. "My cousin Sakura," he replied miserably. "She was a medic. She was just trying to protect civilians, and this Gaara killed her. My aunt and uncle are devastated; Sakura was their only child. I want to at least be able to tell them that a member of our family got some measure of justice for what happened."

"You are, of course, the village's foremost expert on seals, Jiraiya," Danzo interjected smoothly. "Naruto has already used the bijuu's chakra once with little ill effect. Will one more time truly break the seal?"

"No," Jiraiya was forced to admit, "Minato's work is sturdier than that, but he can't afford to let the demon's power become a crutch. I'm against it."

"As am I," Genma interjected.

Danzo looked at Jiraiya squarely, and switched to a language that Naruto hadn't heard before. Glaring, Jiraiya responded in kind. After several exchanges, the Sannin's shoulder slumped. "Fine," he snarled at Danzo. "But if Naruto's being included in this mission, I'll pick and lead the team that accompanies him."

"As you wish," Danzo murmured. He gathered some papers from the Hokage's desk. "I'll leave you to your work then." He departed, and Jiraiya turned to look out the window, his jaw tight with anger.

"C'mon Naruto, let's go," Genma said.

"One sec," Naruto replied, looking at Jiraiya again. "You said that the Fourth Hokage was your student?"

"That's right," Jiraiya replied, turning back to Naruto and offering a cocky grin. "Taught him everything he knew."

"Then maybe you can explain to me why no one told me that he was my father." Because he was watching for a reaction, Naruto saw the startled look that Jiraiya and Genma exchanged. "You knew too, sensei?" Naruto asked sadly

Genma winced, but before he could say anything Jiraiya spoke up. "Don't blame Genma; he was ordered not to tell you when you were assigned to his team, and I was there for the argument had with the Hokage over it. The decision not to tell you about your birth parents was made when you were a baby, and I supported it."

"Why?" Naruto demanded.

"Because your birth parents both had legions of enemies," Jiraiya replied bluntly. "You know Minato was called 'The Yellow Flash', but you probably didn't know that he earned that nickname by killing almost four hundred Iwa shinobi in a single day, turning the tide of a battle that would have destroyed Konoha if we'd lost. Your mother Kushina was almost as widely hated. Both of them killed a lot of this village's enemies and left behind widows and orphans who would hate them forever. Your parents' enemies wouldn't hesitate to avenge themselves on a child… and anyone else who stood in their way. Hiruzen made a tough call because he wanted you to live long enough to have this conversation. We sold a fiction to the rest of the world that Minato died without producing an heir. He kept his entire relationship with Kushina secret _before_ his death for the same reason, even though he loved her so much that he wanted to shout from the top of the monument how happy her was to have her… and you."

Naruto lowered his head, rubbing eyes that were suddenly burning. Ever since talking with Mito in Uzushio he'd been confused, upset and angry, but put like that… it made sense. "Did my mom know?" he asked.

Jiraiya shrugged. "It you mean Lily Haruno, no one told her. Whether she figured it out on her own… you'll have to ask her that yourself." He crossed his arms. "Now how did you come by the information about your parentage?" Naruto shook his head silently, and Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. "Naruto, whoever told you about your parents violated the Hokage's edict and put your life at risk. I need a name."

Naruto looked up, startled, and then offered a mirthless smile. "Fine; Mito Uzumaki told me about my parents and my clan. I wish you all the luck in the world arresting her. She seemed rather upset at Konoha in regards to my ignorance of my heritage, so you should be careful if you try."

Jiraiya stared at Naruto for a moment and then slapped his forehead. "The Pools of Memory," he groaned before shooting Genma an irritated look. "You had to take him to an exam being held over the grave of Uzushio?"

"Hey, I took him to an exam in the Land of Water," Genma replied defensively. "I didn't know that Kiri had decided to hold the second round on Whirlpool Isle until the exam had already started."

Naruto studied Jiraiya. "You know about the cave under the ruins of Uzushio?" he asked in surprise.

Jiraiya nodded. "There's more than one," he replied. "There are half a dozen that we know of, and the Uzumaki certainly didn't show us all of them. There's been a Leaf listening post on the island ever since the city fell, keeping an eye on the Pools among other things."

Naruto's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Were they the ones who collapsed the entrance to the Pool I found?"

Startled, Jiraiya shook his head. "No; attacking the Pools would be a desecration and a betrayal. No Leaf ninja assigned to Uzushio would do something like that. One of the Pools was blocked off?"

Naruto nodded, put a bit more at ease by Jiraiya's honest surprise. "Something like a day or two after I found it I tried to go back and someone had used earth ninjutsu to collapse the whole tunnel leading down."

Jiraiya sighed. "Well, once Kiri's forces leave the area and our post isn't on lockdown we can send them word to investigate. If you'd like, once things have calmed down a bit, you can return to the ruins; there are other Pools accessible on other parts of the island."

Naruto felt a moment of excitement and nodded, but he reminded himself firmly that it was recent history, not ancient history, that mattered at the moment. "So you'll help me hunt Sakura's killer?"

Jiraiya wagged a finger at Naruto. "I'll let you join the team being assembled to hunt Gaara Sabaku, yes. But it's going to be my command, and I intend to see the Sabaku brat taken down without needing your demon. Your parents would haunt me if I used you like a weapon. You'll be there, you'll take part in the operation, but hopefully you won't have to use the Kyuubi's power to defeat him. I doubt you _want_ to surrender more of yourself to your passenger if there isn't a need."

"But if I don't defeat Gaara with Kyuubi's help, won't Suna just replace him?" Naruto asked.

Jiraiya shook his head. "Not soon enough to matter. It takes time for a child implanted with a bijuu to mature enough to be a threat on the battlefield. Remember, it took twelve years after your implantation for you to become a genin. It won't matter if Suna makes a new jinchuuriki once we kill this one."

Jiraiya headed for the door and beckoned Naruto and Genma to follow. "C'mon, the next team meeting for the Suna strike force is starting soon. You should meet the others."

* * *

 _Three months later_

Smoke rose in thick black billows from a collection of adobe buildings built into the sides of a narrow cleft in a large mesa jutting from the sands of the Land of Wind's vast central desert. The scent of burning flesh tickled the back of Naruto's throat; he could remember when that smell had made him vomit back during the border war with Kumo, but he'd smelled it enough times since then that he didn't even gag now. He watched the buildings burn along with the remains of their former inhabitants, and felt… very little.

Chimney Ridge – the name of the Sand ninja outpost now depopulated of its defenders – was the sixth site that the team lead by Jiraiya had attacked since crossing the border. There were other roving bands of Leaf shinobi scattered across the eastern half of the Land of Wind doing the same thing; sabotaging infrastructure, looting trade caravans and burning out every forward base and outpost Suna had created.

Even Konoha's most optimistic planners hadn't anticipated being able to counterattack in force so quickly after the assault on Konoha, but something unexpected had happened: the enemy's alliance had fallen apart. Instead of pressing the advantage of a wounded and defensive Konoha, Oto and Kumo had pulled back. The Cloud ninja had taken advantage of Konoha's withdrawal of forces and invaded the Sunset Valley, seeming intent on reclaiming the region for the Land of Lightning. Oto's forces had vanished back into the Land of Rice as quickly as they had emerged. Suddenly outnumbered, Suna's shinobi had been forced to fall back in spite of their recent victories.

Attacking Kumo in retaliation wasn't feasible, and it was still unknown exactly where Oto was located. Even the captured Sound shinobi couldn't reveal its whereabouts, and several died with their brains leaking out of their ears when interrogated too forcefully. Taking vengeance on Suna, on the other hand, was relatively simple. They were the closest major Hidden Village to Konoha, and their numbers were the smallest of the five major villages.

Hearing the crunch of boots on gravel, Naruto turned to see Rock Lee approach, carrying a torch loosely in one hand. Behind him, the buildings were on fire, the corpses of their defenders tossed into the blazes. The expression on Lee's earnest face was somber and troubled. "Lee, you don't have to be here for this," Naruto said sympathetically.

Lee lost a bit of his dazed look, shaking his head slowly. "We are a team," he said at last. "You have chosen a… youthful trial for yourself, Naruto. I will face it with you."

"Lee you've already done plenty," Naruto replied. "More than anyone has asked of you." The killing was wearing on everyone; the Hokage's orders had been scorched earth, and a village full of shinobi shaken and angered by the attack on their homes had taken those words to heart. The noose was closing around Suna, and they were leaving nothing behind in their wake.

Lee shook his head again. "I will remain," he said firmly. "What was done to Konoha… it must be answered. Why not by us?" Lee dropped his torch in the sand and headed off down the cleft toward their temporary camp. Naruto looked after him.

"Leave Lee be, Naruto," Sai advised quietly from nearby. He wore a long cloak with a deep hood over his usual gear, to protect his near-albino complexion from the desert sun. "He's not going to leave while you still have a job to do, so if you want to spare him let's get this done." Naruto turned to the intense, pale-skinned young man who was perched on the edge of a stonework fountain, dry now that the Leaf forces had destroyed the pumps that pulled water from deep underground. He was flipping through some log books he'd found, his eyes darting rapidly over pages as he looked for relevant information.

Naruto sighed. "Finding anything good there?"

Sai shook his head. "Nothing relevant to our current quarry yet." He went back to reading, and Naruto wandered over to the one building that wasn't burning yet. It had been the site of the fiercest resistance when they'd attacked. Inside, Jiraiya, Genma and Kakashi were poring over captured maps and scrolls. The team's last member was on the second floor, and Naruto wandered up, hearing a stranger's voice whimpering as he climbed the stairs. In a room upstairs a tall, cadaverously thin woman in green armor crouched in front of a shackled, wounded Sand chuunin, the outpost's last survivor.

"Where is the little monster? Where's Gaara Sabaku?" Misa Shibaya's was heavy with malice.

"Please… I don't know…" the reply was breathy and pained. The man's leg wound and broken bones had received only basic treatment to keep him from dying.

"Well you'd better hope you know something," she growled, her dark eyes glittering. She dug a thumb into the bandage over the man's leg wound and he howled in pain. "That's a nerve," Misa snarled, "and if you think it hurts now, you haven't seen anything. Add some rather corrosive foreign chakra, and…" she twisted her nail precisely in the wound, and the man's screams increased in volume until Naruto covered his ears with a wince.

When Misa let up the pressure, the captive panted and sobbed for a moment, catching his breath. "Please, stop. All I know," he gasped, "is that the Kazekage's children have been summoned back to Suna for-" he appeared to catch himself and clammed up.

"Oh no lamb, you don't want to start holding back," Misa growled. Her fingers hovered over the leg wound, which had started bleeding a bit after her abuse. A red glow spread from her hand to the leg, and she drew up a marble-sized orb of blood. Studying the fluid intently she did something with her chakra, and the bright red blood turned _black_. Then she shoved the blood back into the wound. The prisoner started screaming again. "You think it hurts now? Wait until it spreads," Misa purred. "Every blood vessel in your body will feel like it's on fire. I can make it stop; all I need is information."

The Sand chuunin struggled vainly against his bonds before finally giving up, sobbing. "The Kazekage is dead," he cried out. "We found out right before you attacked; the Sabaku heirs are among those being summoned back to Suna for the selection of a new Kazekage." He screamed again. "Make it stop, please! That's all I know, I swear!"

"I believe you," Misa whispered. She drew a kunai and buried it in his heart. The tormented chuunin stared at the hilt of the blade in his chest for a moment before he died.

Naruto stared at Misa as she turned around to study him. "What's wrong, kid?" she asked.

"You… you killed him," Naruto stammered. "He was helpless; he cooperated!"

Misa shrugged. "He was dead as soon as I put that poisoned blood back inside of him," she replied. "The kunai was a mercy." Her eyes turned flinty. "You haven't forgotten why we're here, have you? Suna's dogs killed my apprentice; your cousin. We're here to make them pay, not play nice. Keep that thought foremost in your head or go home."

Misa swept past Naruto and descended the stairs. He stared after her, stung. Of all the adults involved with the mission, she was the only one besides Danzo who hadn't objected to his presence. He'd felt a kinship to her, though they'd only met a few times before Sakura's death.

" **I like the healer bitch,"** Kyuubi whispered from the depths of Naruto's mind. **"She knows what's important."**

"What do you want?" Naruto whispered.

" **Just checking to make sure you haven't gone soft,"** Kyuubi replied. **"Besides, it was a good question. You haven't forgotten what we're doing here, right? Getting vengeance for the pink bitch? What the seal master wants to do to Shukaku isn't punishment. A quick death for the container and a quick nap for the bastard tanuki, and then someone else has to do this all again in another generation. Maybe it'll be someone you love who bears the loss and the pain next time."**

"What do you _want_?" Naruto demanded again.

" **Let the sage subdue Shukaku's vessel,"** Kyuubi yawned. **"I couldn't care less who does the heavy lifting, but once Shukaku is beaten you and I are the only ones who can punish him – and his vessel – for their crimes. I live in your head, brat. I can feel your pain. Shouldn't they feel pain too?"**

Naruto closed his eyes. Thinking about Sakura still hurt. Haku's letters from home were upbeat, but it sounded like Sakura's mom and dad were still deep in mourning. "Fine," Naruto muttered.


	44. Champion

_Author's Note: It's been a long journey to the end of year two. The three chapters (15k words! -_-;) in this update bring Harry's year at Hogwarts to a close, and the next update will be the conclusion of Naruto's current arc._

 _I've noticed several reviews recently that follow a theme: namely, that the story is too dark and grim. I'm never happy to lose readers, but darker stories were my inspiration to start writing myself, and what I produce tends not to be happy-fun-times or slice of life. That's not going to change, unfortunately. The good guys generally come out on top in my stories, but everything ending perfectly with sunshine and rainbows? That's not me._

 _Read on, and hopefully enjoy! Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews if I didn't get back to you personally._

Chapter Forty-Two: Champion

* * *

Leaving the dungeons of Hogwarts at the end of Potions class, Harry rubbed his temples. "It's like he _wants_ me to fail," Harry muttered. Classes with Professor Snape were never fun, but as the end of the year approached the lessons were even more difficult and intense.

Ron clapped Harry on the shoulder. "Relax mate," he replied with a grin. "Snape wants _everyone_ to fail. Well, except for his pet Slytherin anyways."

"Ronald," Hermione scolded the redhead, "just because the professor is strict doesn't mean he wants everyone to fail." The response was reflexive for a girl who respected teachers as much as Hermione did. She paused and glanced at Harry. "Although yes, he does sometimes single out students; maybe he just wants to make sure those with the most promise do well?"

Harry snorted. "Hermione, I love your optimism, but the only thing that would make Professor Snape happy is if I fell off of my broom tonight and broke something painful."

" _Speaking of which…_ " Ron said significantly. "You're feeling okay, right? You're going to beat my traitorous little snip of a sister and humiliate those smug Ravenclaws?"

"That's the plan," Harry replied. In his first year Gryffindor had nearly won the Cup, but Hufflepuff had pulled off a narrow victory in the end. Now the whole Gryffindor team was a year older and more experienced, but Ravenclaw had kept neck in neck on the strength of Ginny Weasley's phenomenal performance as a first-year seeker. It was going to be Harry's second House Cup and Harry was confident that his teammates could tackle Ravenclaw, but they were closely enough matched that it was likely to come down to another duel between himself and Ginny to catch the Snitch.

With a soft patter of shoes Sakura caught up to them. "I still say it's a weird sport, and I've seen some seriously odd competitions," she said lightly. Glancing back, Harry saw Neji trailing along a little bit behind the group. He'd remained aloof even as more time passed since their arrival, but Harry could sympathize with the cool Hyuuga's distance. It couldn't be easy for him being alone among strangers in a completely different world, and he wasn't as sociable as Sakura, who'd made quite a few friends at Hogwarts.

"Don't listen to the teacher's pet Harry," Ron rebutted. "Quidditch is the purest sport there is."

"So what did Snape want?" Harry asked. For the most part the shinobi were keeping their heads down in their classes, even using genjutsu to make the professors not notice or call on them very often. But to everyone's surprise, Sakura had turned out to be a genius when it came to potions. She and Hermione had the highest marks in the class by far, and while Snape's animosity toward Gryffindor students – and anyone who associated with them – was legendary, he'd actually seemed to take a liking to the pink-haired exchange student.

"He wanted to ask me how I knew to stop stirring the yarrow extract early," Sakura replied with a shrug. "I told him it smelled ready." Hermione looked a trifle irritated, but didn't say anything. Harry hid a smile. Hermione had followed the textbook to the letter and produced a functional dreaming sleep potion. Sakura had gone with her instinct and produced an exceptional potion, one that Snape had praised. They'd both done better than Ron and Harry, who had spent the last third of the class trying to scrape a foul-smelling mess with the consistency of burned rubber out of their cauldrons.

Once they left the dungeons and entered the halls of the school proper, Harry was heartened to see things returning to normal since the veela scare. In the immediate wake of the Ministry's examination failing to find the veela, more students had been pulled out of school by frightened parents. There had even been talk of ending the year early, but then a gruesome discovery in London had changed everything. One of the mediwitches who had been sent to test the students had been found dead in her apartment days later, her throat slit and traces of inhuman magic everywhere. The Ministry had concluded that the veela had managed to escape, and launched a nationwide hunt for the fugitive. The whole school had held its breath, but when weeks passed and there weren't any more attacks, it was accepted that the monster was gone, and the withdrawn students had returned.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sakura and Neji headed out to the quidditch pitch, stopping occasionally as other Gryffindors leaving class paused to wish Harry luck. In the entry hall, Harry heard Neji murmur something to Sakura about catching up later before heading off down a side hall. Shrugging mentally, he continued out the doors toward the pitch for warmups.

* * *

Soaring into the air on his Nimbus 2000 alongside the rest of Gryffindor's quidditch team as the sun set toward the mountains west of Hogwarts, Harry could see the Ravenclaw team rising in opposition to them, but he only had eyes for one of them. Ginny Weasley saw him looking at her and offered a fierce grin and a nod that Harry found himself returning. He intended to win, but knowing that he'd have to beat the toughest opponent he'd ever encountered on the pitch sent a thrill of excitement through his veins.

Glancing to the left and right, Harry saw his teammates' faces set and ready. He did feel a pang at the sight of two of Oliver Wood's dorm mates – the backup beaters – flying where Fred and George should have been. They'd stayed firm in the stance that they weren't going to risk injuring their sister, and Wood had benched them, just as he'd said he would. It weakened the team's line overall – Fred and George were amazing beaters who flew in sync and practically read each other's minds – but Gryffindor needed beaters who would harass Ravenclaw's young seeker.

The game started, and the Golden Snitch vanished into the evening game's growing darkness. Harry lost sight of it, and he could tell Ginny had as well. Looking at the borderline-sadistic smile on Madame Hooch's face, he wondered if she'd added some personal upgrades to the snitch's evasion spell. Harry put it out of his mind; he still had plenty to do. Ravenclaw's beaters had it out for him, and they flew aggressively enough that not only did he have to dodge bludgers, but also the occasional swing of their clubs that could _conceivably_ have been aimed at a bludger rather than him, but would hurt a lot either way if it landed. Throwing his broom into punishing acceleration and dizzying turns to stay clear of the fray and search for the snitch, Harry was gratified to see that at least Ginny was facing the same level of pressure.

Almost half an hour had passed and the game's score was 100-70 in Gryffindor's favor when Harry spotted Ginny zipping off on an unusual arc with a determined bludger on her tail. Dropping altitude and inverting his broom for a second to slip past Ravenclaw's beaters, Harry looped up and took off in Ginny's wake. He caught up within a few seconds thanks to his Nimbus' higher top speed, but he knew better than to get complacent. The school brooms were a bit slower but actually turned faster than the Nimbus line, and Ginny used hers to its full capability.

After tailing Ginny for a few seconds Harry saw what she had; the snitch glittering gold in the harsh glare of the lights ringing the quidditch pitch. It was zipping along at high speed close to the ground. Ginny went into a steep dive, and Harry followed. By the time they levelled out a few meters above the ground, they were neck and neck. Harry swerved to the right, attempting to body-check Ginny, but she evaded the attempt with an arch look in his direction before pulling ahead, her focus still on the snitch. Chants of "Potter" and "Weasley" filled the stadium as he caught up.

Ginny made a grab for the Snitch, but it spiraled around her hand almost playfully before shooting straight up. Harry pulled his broom back, holding on tightly as the force of the climb threatened to tear him free. The snitch didn't level off until it was well above the stands, and by then Harry had pulled ahead of Ginny. He was closing in to make a grab himself when he spotted one of Ravenclaw's beaters bearing down on him, a snarl on her lips. He wasn't sure what she was doing until he saw that she'd baited a bludger into chasing _her_. She shimmied to the side, decelerated and clubbed it from behind, giving it even more speed as it barreled toward Harry.

Harry's feinted to one side, and the bludger adjusted to meet his anticipated course. At the last minute he broke hard in the other direction, and smiled thinly as the bludger sailed past him. He tossed the Ravenclaw beater a mocking salute as he sailed past her toward the snitch, which was hovering as though waiting to see the outcome. It zipped off again when he got close, but Harry kept pace and was about to grab it when he heard "Look out, Potter!" shouted by Wood over the roar of the crowd. He dodged by instinct a split-second before the same bludger flew through the space where his head had been, several seconds before it should have been able to loop around on its own.

Startled, Harry looked back to see Ginny arresting a spin of her broom with a satisfied, challenging grin on her face. _She got in the bludger's path and smacked it right back at me with her broom's tail!_ It was risky for any player without a beater's club to get that close to a bludger, which could break bone or broom if it struck the wrong way, but it definitely had the value of being unexpected.

When Harry looked up again the snitch had made itself scarce, and the hunt was on again. The score was 150-90 Gryffindor when the snitch descended from high above, catching Harry and Ginny's eyes at the same time. They both took off after it, jockeying for position. Again Harry was forced to marvel at Ginny's skill; she was pressing him harder than anyone else ever had on the quidditch pitch, and while her elusive grace was frustrating, it was also a rush to test himself against her. He was forced to concede that she might actually be more agile on a broom than he was, but he'd been playing a year longer and he had a size and weight advantage. He used that to the utmost, forcing Ginny to avoid him as well as the bludgers while she tried to chase down the snitch.

Eventually the opportunity that Harry had been waiting for presented itself: the same persistent Ravenclaw beater sent another bludger winging his way. He hastily put himself between Ginny and the heavy, enchanted ball. Focused on the snitch as she was, she didn't notice it. All of Harry's instincts screamed at him to evade, but he knew how good Ginny's reflexes were. He had to wait until the last possible moment. He kept jockeying with Ginny for the snitch until the oncoming bludger seemed as big as a lorry in his peripheral vision.

Harry yanked his broomstick back at the very last second, bracing himself for a painful impact if he'd timed it even a fraction of a second too late. He felt the bludger brush the shaft of his broom, so closely did it pass in front of him. He saw Ginny's fingers stretched out, just centimeters from the snitch…

 _THUD_

Harry was close enough to see the exultation on Ginny's face turn to surprise and pain as the bludger caught her squarely in the shoulder with enough force to throw her off of her broom entirely. The snitch leapt upward as if in reaction, and with his broom nearly vertical already, Harry sped after it. With no competition and the Ravenclaw beaters distracted, he caught the snitch in seconds and immediately inverted, ready to go into a dive and save Ginny from the fall if he had to. But Madame Hooch had already caught Ginny with a levitation charm and was gently lowering her to the ground. Around them, the audience went berserk as the final score flashed onto the board amid plumes of red and gold sparks: Gryffindor 300, Ravenclaw 100.

Harry's teammates swarmed around him, buffeting him and cheering wildly. Grinning, Harry held the captured snitch high in the air. The Gryffindors and most of the Hufflepuffs roared in approval, while the other two quadrants of the audience were largely silent. Both teams descended to the ground, where the Gryffindors were mobbed by most of their house as celebrants poured out of the stands and onto the pitch. Harry and the quidditch team were quickly hoisted aloft again, this time on the shoulders of their classmates. Harry saw Wood, the normally reserved captain, grinning and whooping like a loon. He'd played for years hoping for a House Cup win, and to make it even sweeter, the win all but assured Gryffindor coming out on top of the House Points race overall.

The cheering took a while to die down to the point that the Gryffindors could escape into the locker room to shower and change before returning to the tower for the inevitable celebration awaiting them. Harry took his time, relaxing in the hot spray. When he emerged and got dressed there were few people left, save two he bumped into outside. Fred and George were glowering at him silently, and Harry sighed. "Really?" he asked.

"She's still our sister even if she's a Ravenclaw, Harry…" Fred pointed out.

"…and that bludger broke her arm," George added.

"I didn't send it at her," Harry replied defensively, contemplating his options. He was confident he could protect himself from the twins hand to hand if he had to, but they were both more experienced than he was magically, and given their reputation as pranksters, a straight fight might be preferable to their more subtle revenge capabilities.

"But you made sure it hit her," George said.

"And if anything Harry did tonight had been a foul Madame Hooch would have been all over it. Honestly you two, enough."

Harry, Fred and George all turned in surprise to see Ginny herself striding down the hall. Her right arm was in a sling and there was a bandage on her temple where the ricocheting bludger had apparently broken the skin, but her eyes were clear and fierce as she glared at her older brothers.

"Ginny…" Fred began.

"…you should be in the infirmary!" George concluded the protest.

Ginny offered a rude snort in rejoinder. "Madame Pomfrey's already clucked over me and fed me enough potions that nothing else is going to taste right for the rest of the night. I'm fine, really. This isn't the first time I've broken a bone, remember? In fact you two were responsible for the last one as I recall."

"Now Ginny," George said, "that was an accident…"

"…and a long time ago," Fred added.

"Fred, George, I'm not made of porcelain! This," she gestured to her arm, "will heal, and it's not Harry's fault. Minnie sent the bludger on its way, and I got too fixed on my target to notice what Harry was doing – the exact same thing any other good Seeker would do! The protective big brother thing is cute, but leave Harry alone or I swear I'll tell mom that I didn't 'just trip and fall' a few summers ago – and I'll hex you both!" Harry was treated to the normally unflappable Weasley twins going pale and tongue-tied, retreating without another word.

"Thanks," Harry murmured to Ginny when they were alone. "Sorry about your arm."

Ginny shrugged, and then winced at the movement. "Forget it, Harry," she said with a smile. "I just wanted to say that was a great game – and congratulations."

"It was a good game," Harry agreed. "Your flying was amazing. The only person who's pushed me that hard on a broom before was…" he hesitated, remembering that he couldn't mention his godfather, "a lot older than you."

"Thanks Harry," Ginny beamed. "I hope you plan to improve over the summer, though; don't expect that move to work on me next year." Her grin turned mischievous. "I won't rest until I've beaten you again."

"Deal," Harry replied. "I'm looking forward to next year already."

"Me too." Ginny moved closer, and before he realized what she intended, she'd placed a quick peck of a kiss on his cheek. Dancing back a step, she winked. "I'm sure every brave Gryffindor in that tower is waiting to fete your victory, Harry. Don't keep them waiting." With that Ginny turned on her heel and was gone. Harry watched her go wide-eyed, pressing a hand to his cheek. He was somehow unable to escape the feeling that she'd come out ahead for the night, loser on the field or no. Shaking off that odd musing, Harry headed back to the dormitory.

* * *

The day after the House Cup was a Saturday. Harry and most of Gryffindor had stayed up late into the night celebrating and feasting on smuggled sweets and fizzy drinks. Harry had slept later than usual, and as a result he had to skip his morning exercise; there wasn't enough time before he had to meet with Professor Lockhart for their usual weekend meeting in the library to research the Chamber of Secrets in the restricted section. The immediacy of the work had faded when the veela attacks stopped, but both of them had expended enough time and energy that they really wanted to crack the mystery. Harry was eager to run a theory he had past the Professor, that their timeline of the last opening of the Chamber might have missed a key event that no one knew was related.

On his way to the library, however, Harry ran into Sakura, who looked worried. "Harry, there you are," she exclaimed. "I've been looking for you outside all morning!"

Harry blinked. "You have?" he winced. "Sorry, I slept in today, so I didn't go running. What's wrong?"

"I can't find Neji," Sakura told him seriously. "He goes off to brood sometimes, but he didn't come back to the guest dorms at all last night, and I couldn't find him at any of the places he's gone stargazing before. I asked a house elf, and she said he isn't anywhere on the school grounds." She looked around cautiously before leaning in and lowering her voice. "I don't know if that just means something has happened to his amulet… or if it's worse. But I need to find him. He wouldn't…" Sakura took a slow breath. "Neji wouldn't leave, not when you're our only way home."

Harry studied the pink-haired girl, and saw the unspoken fear in her eyes. Months had passed with no sign of contact from Naruto. He knew both shinobi were growing increasingly worried about their chances of returning home. Neji was prickly and cold, but he was also the only person from her world that Sakura had. "We'll find him," Harry replied reassuringly. "I'll get Hermione and Ron, and we'll all look for him. I just need to let Professor Lockhart know that I'll have to reschedule our appointment today. C'mon, he's probably still in his office."

When Harry knocked on the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, there was no answer. The door did drift open, having been left ajar. "Professor?" Harry stuck his head inside the classroom. It was dark and empty, but Lockhart's office door was wide open and the lights were on. Puzzled, Harry crossed the room to glance into the office – only to stop dead, staring at what was inside.

Professor Lockhart floated in the air behind his desk, still and unmoving, his feet dangling centimeters above the floor. Harry couldn't feel his magic at all. His bookshelves had been ransacked, and the papers usually on his desk were strewn across the floor.

"What the-" Sakura exclaimed. They both saw movement behind Lockhart's drifting body, and an instant later a veritable cloud of angry, screaming bats exploded around the floating teacher, filling the room and swarming around Harry and Sakura. Even as they staggered back to defend themselves a short, slender figure in a dark hooded cloak emerged from behind Lockhart, vaulted over his desk and sprinted out the door before Harry or Sakura could get through the bats. Within seconds the bats vanished, and the pair exchanged a startled look. "That was the veela," Harry muttered. "It has to be. She didn't run away; she was here in Hogwarts the whole time! We have to stop her!"

Harry started for the door, but Sakura caught his shoulder. "If that was the veela then she's now taken down two adult wizards, Harry," she cautioned. "Shouldn't we get help?"

Harry sighed. "I suppose you're…" he trailed off, glancing over the mess in the office and noticing what wasn't there. "All of our research notes!" Harry exclaimed. "They're gone! The veela must have taken them." His eyes narrowed. "That tears it she has to be hiding in the Chamber of Secrets. If we don't get those books back we'll never find her hiding place!" Harry headed for the door again, and this time Sakura only sighed in resignation before following.

Faintly Harry could hear the fleeing veela's footsteps, and he ran after the sound. Reaching into his pouch, Harry pulled out the coin Hermione had enchanted during their search for the philosopher's stone. "Hermione, are you there?" he said. "Does this thing still work?"

The coin was silent for long enough that Harry was about to toss it away when Hermione's voice came out of it. "Harry? What are you doing?"

"The veela's still here at Hogwarts; she attacked Lockhart," he said shortly. "She stole our notes and now she's running; we're headed west from the DADA classroom."

"Seriously? We're on our way, mate!" Ron called out.

Harry and Sakura paused at an intersection between halls, panting and listening. Harry couldn't see or hear anything, and when he glanced at Sakura she shook her head. "Looks like the veela got away," she murmured.

"Maybe not," Harry muttered, drawing his wand. "Librum Invenies!" A ball of white light jumped from the tip of Harry's wand and circled him for a moment before shooting off down the south hall. Harry jogged after it, and Sakura followed.

"What is this?" Sakura asked.

"I thought Lockhart was just paranoid when he enchanted some of our notes with a tracking spell, but I guess I owe him an apology. The veela probably doesn't know that we can use the books she just stole to follow her."

Harry and Sakura hadn't been following the bouncing ball of light for long when the school itself shook slightly. They skidded to a halt, and a moment later an animalistic roar echoed through the halls ahead of them. From the direction of the hall they'd been running down, a shimmering wave of green magic rippled along the walls, ceiling and floor. Harry and Sakura braced themselves, but the wave passed them without any effect. In its wake the walls shimmered with viridian light, coalescing into writing on the stone blocks. "What the hell is going on?" Sakura demanded. "What is that gibberish on the walls?"

Harry felt a headache start to pulse between his temples, and absently rubbed the spot on his brow where his old lightning bolt scar – now nearly faded entirely – had been. Harry studied the writing on the walls. _Slytherin's heir returns. The Chamber of Secrets is open._ The same words repeated over and over everywhere Harry looked. "You can't read that?" Harry asked in surprise.

Sakura shook her head. "It's not your language," she confirmed.

Before Harry could reply, another roar shook the castle, and this time he could hear words woven into the noise. "INVADERS IN NEST. STONE LAIR FILLED WITH SWEET MEAT. MUST FEED."

"Oh, that can't be good," Harry murmured. While he was trying to figure out what to do, Ron and Hermione caught up with them.

"Harry, you're okay!" Hermione called out. "What's going on?"

"Lockhart's been drained by the veela, and she stole our research," Harry told her before pointing at the glowing writing on the walls. "That says the Chamber of Secrets has been opened, so I'm guessing she did it."

"We have to find the teachers and the headmaster Harry," Hermione exclaimed. "We have to warn-"

Hermione was interrupted as the teachers found them. Flitwick, McGonagall and Snape rounded the corner and flew down the hall towards the four students. All three were skating backward on waves of magic while hurling spells at something in front of them. That 'something' appeared a moment later, but Harry's eyes refused to focus on it. All he could see was a long, bulky and undulating body that _slithered_ after the teachers, slamming into the walls hard enough to crack stone when it struck them.

Glancing back, McGonagall spotted Harry, Hermione, Ron and Sakura. Her eyes widened slightly, and she called out to Snape and Flitwick, who shouted a spell together that created a barrier of shining light across the length of the hallway. The tenebrous form slammed into it and halted. Harry heard angry hissing in between strikes that shook the whole hall. "CRUEL MEAT STINGS AND RUNS AWAY. KILL!"

"What are you four doing here?" McGonagall exclaimed. "Run! Go back to the dorms!"

"Professor Lockhart's been attacked by the veela," Harry replied instantly. "She stole the research we spent the year working on, and I think she's opened the Chamber of Secrets!"

McGonagall swore. "That explains where the basilisk came from," she said grimly. "The kitchen staff was all petrified before Severus placed an Obscurus Charm on it so that no one can see it clearly." Behind her the shrouded basilisk seemed to tire of beating on the shield and turned around to look for food elsewhere.

"We have to go and keep it busy, Mr. Potter. If it finds one of the dorms…" McGonagall shuddered. "All of you go back to the Gryffindor tower right now and warn the upperclassmen to reinforce the door."

"Where's the headmaster?" Harry called out as she moved to rejoin the other teachers.

"Away from the castle all weekend," McGonagall called back before Snape dispelled the barrier and all three took off after the basilisk, hurling spells into its tail that bounced off or barely had an effect yet were strong enough to shatter steel and stone when they missed.

"Damn it," Harry swore. "We can't just run away. If that thing came out of the Chamber, who knows what else is waiting? I have to go after the veela."

"Harry, mate, are you serious?" Ron exclaimed. "She's already taken down Malcomson and Lockhart! You're good, but even you're not _that_ good!"

"He won't be alone," Sakura said quietly. "It can't be a coincidence that the veela returned the same day Neji goes missing. I want answers… and if she hurt him, I want blood."

"Besides," Harry said slowly. "The veela didn't attack us, she ran away. She's ambushed everyone she's attacked so far. She might not be as strong as we're afraid of." Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, seeing their fear plain on their faces. "Go back to the dorms, deliver McGonagall's message," he told them. "The house needs to be warned."

Hermione shook her head. "I'm going with you," she said.

"Hermione, are you crazy?" Ron exclaimed.

Hermione shook her head. "No, but if I have to live with what Fenrir Greyback made me into I might as well use it. Go warn the Gryffindors, Ron."

Ron hesitated before turning to go. "Stay alive, all of you," he called over his shoulder. "I mean it."

Harry started the tracking spell moving again, and the three of them followed it carefully, wary of traps. They encountered none, however, and heard nothing but the distant sounds of the teachers' battle against the basilisk. Harry blinked in surprise when the spell flew into a girls' restroom in a little-used section of the castle a floor up from the kitchens. He understood, however, when he entered. The ghost of a young girl hung in the air close to the ceiling, petrified and unmoving. "Moaning Myrtle," Hermione exclaimed in surprise. "This is her bathroom. She must have seen the basilisk."

"Look," Sakura pointed to the back of the bathroom. A circular array of sinks had slid apart to reveal a wide hole that appeared to descend deep into the castle's foundations.

When Harry got close, he could feel magic coming from the opening. "There's a safe descent spell here," Hermione murmured. "We can just jump in."

"Are you both ready for this?" Harry asked. Sakura nodded silently, her face shut down and remote. She had fought for her life before.

Hermione's expression was less controlled; she was scared and it showed. "Let's go before I lose my nerve."

All three of them stepped over the lip at once, and as they fell the spell caught them. They slid down into darkness until the opening above was only a tiny circle of light. When they landed, the footing was uneven, shifting and clacking under their feet. Harry was pretty sure what he'd see when he lit up the tip of his wand, but Hermione stumbled back into Sakura at the sight of a pile of bones filling the bottom of the enchanted well. She saw some human skulls a moment later and her eyes went wide. Sakura grabbed her and clapped a hand over her mouth, muffling her shriek. "Don't scream," she whispered. "There's no sense letting the veela know we're coming. You okay?" Hermione nodded, and Sakura let her go.

Alert and wary, a wizard, a witch and a kunoichi made their way forward. They found an elaborate door carved with snakes that someone appeared to have used magic to _melt_ through. Beyond the door they entered the Chamber of Secrets. It was massive for a space that had to be down in the bedrock. It was dimly lit by glowing green gems that served as eyes for the large statues of snakes and other inhuman things that lined the walls of the entry. Further in Harry saw movement, and signaled to Sakura and Hermione. The crept forward, using the statues for cover, nearing the far end of the chamber.

Harry saw a statue of a rearing serpent that looked like the others, save that it had slid to the side on hidden rails, revealing a small alcove dominated by an armoire of age-darkened wood engraved with gold. Standing in front of it and fiddling with a complex-looking lock on the doors was the cloaked assailant who had been in Lockhart's office.

Harry was surprised to note that the veela was even shorter than Sakura and Hermione. Seven small spheres formed of what looked like crystallized magic orbited her head. Six were small, ranging from marble to baseball-sized. The seventh was much bigger, the size of a bludger. Harry could see wisps of magic flowing into the veela's body from the surface of each orb. She'd thrown back her cloak to reveal slender arms and shoulders with pale skin, and a left bicep adorned with a coiling jade dragon. "Damn it, how does this open?" the veela muttered.

The voice was familiar. Eyes narrowed, Harry drew his wand and whispered, "Bombarda." The spell flickered across the distance between them, but on striking the jade orb over the veela's shoulder, Harry's magic was absorbed instead of impacting as intended.

The veela turned around with speed and grace, throwing back her hood to reveal mischievous green eyes and a tumbling mane of red hair. "That wasn't very nice Harry," Ginny Weasley chided him, "and here I've finally gotten everything ready for the two of us to be together… forever!"


	45. The Chamber of Secrets

Chapter Forty-Three: The Chamber of Secrets

* * *

Kushina Uzumaki clung like a spider to a wall in the corridors of Hogwarts where the shadows of the arched ceiling hid her from view and watched Snape, McGonagall and Flitwick battle the magical serpent monster that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere to menace the castle's residents. Snape had ordered her not to reveal herself to the other members of the faculty and she'd obeyed, but she could see the wizards and witch tiring while the basilisk was only slightly wounded, and knew that soon her oath to keep Severus alive would trump his more recent command and force her out of hiding.

As if reading her mind, Snape spoke. "Minerva, Filius, you have to go warn the Ministry! We don't have the strength to stop this thing!"

"What about you, Severus?" McGonagall demanded sharply.

"Go! I'll lure it down into the dungeons and let it chase me for a while. Go, or the students will be in danger!" Reluctantly, McGonagall and Flitwick disengaged and retreated. Kushina smiled in the darkness and dropped from her perch, blurring into a shunshin and heading for the dungeons far faster than wizard or snake-thing were capable of.

Kushina found a good place for an ambush, and was crouched on the ceiling by the time Snape arrived. He ran under her, and Kushina let her chakra chains burst forth from her back. She commanded them to burrow through the stone of the ceiling and walls and then arc back, wrapping themselves around the basilisk's coils and digging deep to trap it. The monster screamed and thrashed, threatening to crumble the stone anchors and tear the chakra matrix of the chains, but Kushina's plans went far beyond restraining the beast. She touched the stone of the ceiling in front of her, pouring earth chakra into it. A multi-ton wedge of stone with a broad, bladed tip slammed down into the basilisk's neck. Incredibly, the improvised guillotine made only a shallow cut into the beast's neck. Wincing at the volume of its answering shriek, Kushina lifted the blade and brought it down again with more force. It took a third swing before the stone blade finally met and severed the basilisk's spine. Kushina knew she'd succeeded when the basilisk finally stopped thrashing.

"You cut that awfully close," Snape commented acidly as she dispelled the chains and landed next to him.

Kushina smiled and patted his cheek, a gesture she knew he disliked. "Don't worry, Severus, I wouldn't let you get hurt." She glanced at the basilisk, which was still twitching slightly, parts of its body not yet aware that it was dead. "Where did that thing come from?"

"The Chamber of Secrets, probably," Snape growled. "Your son told Minerva as much when we ran across them in the halls."

"Harry's not in the dorms?" Kushina asked in alarm.

Snape shrugged. "He should be by now; Minerva told him to go there. Your son is about as good at following directions as his father was, though."

"Then we need to find the entrance to the Chamber," Kushina said, worried.

"Agreed," Snape replied. "The basilisk first appeared in the kitchens; we can start searching there."

* * *

Deep inside the Chamber of Secrets, Harry stepped forward cautiously with his wand at the ready. "Ginny, how… how are you a veela?"

Ginny, standing before the armoire that she had uncovered, laughed. "Oh Harry, I'm not a veela! Mei-Liu Xan was, though; centuries ago. Salazar Slytherin used her to kill his enemies – the male ones at least – and then killed her when the other Founders started to suspect his 'Eastern servant's' true nature. He tore her soul in two and sealed them in matching jade bracelets." Ginny tapped the one on her arm. "This is one, but the other half of her power is locked in here. Don't worry though, I'll figure out how to open it."

Hermione stared at Ginny. " _You_ attacked Colin and the other boys? _You_ attacked Professor Lockhart?"

Ginny shrugged. "Colin was an accident. The others…" she shrugged. "Well, I needed their power to make my dream a reality."

"How could you?" Hermione exclaimed.

Ginny scowled. "You're annoying. Do you have any idea how much magic it takes to command an elder basilisk? I don't even mean permanently, just one command to get out of the way. Salazar enchanted it himself, so convincing it to leave the Chamber – to say nothing of forcing the entrance open without a Parselmouth handy – took a lot of power." She reached up, caressing the largest orb affectionately. "Besides, it feels so good, Hermione. You don't know what being alive is like until you feel your core expand."

Looking up at the orbs above Ginny's head, Harry felt sick. "Those are magic stolen from others?" The large one must have come from Lockhart, but there were more small ones than other attacks so far. "Where did the rest come from?"

Ginny grinned at Harry. "You really are quick," she remarked. "I wasn't planning to run into Lockhart today and I needed more power, so I took what I needed from people who were alone in their rooms. I'm sure the Ravenclaw dorm is panicking right now."

Sakura stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "What did you do to Neji? Where is he?"

Ginny looked surprised for a moment. "Well hello Miss Exchange Student. I didn't expect _you_ to follow me. You're looking for your boyfriend with the odd eyes? Sorry, I don't know where he is. I didn't do anything to him. But as entertaining as this has been, you two need to leave. Harry was meant to come here, but you two are just interfering."

"Yeah, no," Sakura retorted. "Harry, I'll leave you to figure out the magic here, but whatever's happened to this girl, she doesn't seem to show any remorse for what she's done to her victims. She needs to go down."

"I'm not going anywhere," Hermione added.

Harry studied Ginny. "Ron, Fred and George told me so much about their sister's compassion and kindness," Harry said to her. "I know this isn't you, Ginny. Take off the bracelet and give me those cores. Let us help you."

Ginny shook her head. "These cores are meant for you, Harry, but I can't give them to you yet. We're not ready. As for the bracelet, it's just a tool. I had to take it off during the examination, remember? No one was the wiser."

"Why are you doing all of this, Ginny?" Harry asked, changing tacks. The longer he stood in her presence the more he could pick out her magic from the Chamber's, and it made him nervous. She had too much power for a witch so young, so much that if he looked closely he could see light flickering under her skin. _How much stolen magic has she absorbed already?_

Ginny's smile became radiant. "I'm doing it for you, Harry, for us," she told him rapturously. "My brothers told me a lot about you, too. Ron couldn't stop talking about your power and your bravery. Fred and George don't respect hardly anyone, but they respect your skill on the pitch. I knew before we even met that I was interested in you, and this year? Flying against you? Harry, I _know_ we're meant to be together!"

Harry's skin crawled, and glances to the side showed expressions of horrified disgust on Sakura and Hermione's faces. "She's delusional," Sakura said at last. "I don't think talking is going to work here, Harry."

Ginny's smile twisted into a snarl in an instant. "You won't stand between us! If you're not going to leave, then you'll just have to die!" Ginny raised her wand, and the power of the magic that surged through it alarmed Harry. He raised a shielding charm to cover all three of them, but the forked beam of light shredded it like paper.

Sakura ducked, and the beam aimed at her drilled into the statue behind her, blowing its tail off. Hermione didn't dodge in time, and her alarmed cry was cut off when the beam struck her in the chest, hurling her backward violently. She slammed into a statue hard enough that Harry heard bones break. Hermione tumbled further into the gloom behind the statues.

"That's enough, Ginny," Harry snarled. "Stupefy!" A gout of red light erupted from his wand, but before it struck Ginny one of the orbs of magic circling her head dipped down into its path, and the spell was again absorbed.

Rolling to her feet after dodging Ginny's opening attack, Sakura broke into a sprint. Ginny hurled a wave of magic at Sakura, but she ducked behind another statue and let it take the hit before moving again, circling around Ginny, who had started hurling spells back at Harry with a creepy smile on her face.

Harry hadn't seriously dueled someone his age very often; most of his experience outside of training with Remus and Sirius had come in the dueling club Lockhart had started. It hadn't been open to first-years, however, so Ginny hadn't taken part. He quickly discovered that while her personal repertoire of spells was smaller than his, she was inventive with what she did know, her reflexes were equal to his, and the power she put into each spell was unbelievable. Her hexes hit as hard as an adult's, and while Harry was vastly more mobile in a spell duel than most wizards thanks to his mother's training, Ginny was fast and accurate, and when she connected one of her spells was enough to break down his wards, forcing him to take cover and replenish them.

When Ginny was focused on Harry, Sakura moved to attack her from behind. Ginny whirled at the last moment and nimbly leapt back from Sakura's blurring fist, her jump augmented by magic to land her on top of one of the statues. Once Ginny was committed to the jump, however, Harry hurled a blasting hex at the statue's head. Ginny landed, and the stone snake's face exploded before she could move again. Ginny cried out as she was hurled upward and then fell toward the ground. Sakura body-checked her in midair, slamming her into the statue's base and sending her rolling across the floor before coming to a halt.

Harry and Sakura closed in, but the light of the stolen cores brightened, forming a wave of greenish magic that slammed into them, throwing both backward. They landed on their feet, but saw Ginny rising as well. She had several bleeding cuts from shrapnel, bruises from the fall, and one of her legs was canted at an odd angle, unable to support her weight. As she leaned against the statue, however, the streams of magic from the cores thickened, and her wounds mended before Harry's eyes. _Of course she has a way to heal; her arm was broken yesterday._ He was grimly aware that his own bruises would last much longer, and Sakura's ability to heal while being attacked was limited mostly to herself.

"This is how it's meant to be, Harry," Ginny cried out once she could stand unaided. "You and I, testing each other, pushing the limits, growing together!" She glared at Sakura. "Just let me kill _her_ and then we can fulfill our destinies together!"

"Ginny, stop," Harry called out as Ginny unleashed her wrath on Sakura. He launched spells of his own, but she let her cores defend her while focusing on the pink-haired kunoichi. She slashed her wand horizontally, producing a cutting hex that Sakura leapt over; it sliced a frighteningly deep gash in the wall behind her. Reversing Harry's trick from seconds earlier Ginny jabbed her wand at Sakura twice while she was in the air. Sakura twisted to avoid the first lance of magic, but the second struck her arm as she raised it in a desperate defense. Sakura's landing turned into a tumble on the stone, and when she sat up she was clutching her throat, eyes wide with alarm. Her mouth opened, and a torrent of slugs poured from between her lips.

Harry had seen Ron use that hex, a favorite of the Weasleys, but with Ginny's stolen power behind it the prank spell became something much worse. Sakura coughed up more slugs, and a few smaller ones even appeared from her nostrils. Her face started turning red as she scrabbled at her throat, and Harry realized in horror that Sakura couldn't breathe; the spell kept creating more slugs to block her airways.

"Ginny, stop it now," Harry called out. He reluctantly delved into the more serious spells Remus had taught him after it became clear he'd have to defend himself from adult Death Eaters. Ginny staggered when a rather nasty hex with no visible line of travel hit her, her green eyes instantly becoming clouded with a milky white film. He closed into melee range as she staggered back, disoriented. She heard him coming and managed to dodge his first punch even while blinded, but his second blow landed in her gut, folding her over. With a mental apology to Ron, Fred and George, Harry followed up with a knee strike in the ribs that cracked at least one and sent her sprawling on the floor with a pained cry. He hit Ginny in the side of the head, and she stopped moving. Mindful of the painful lesson Bellatrix had taught him Harry kicked away Ginny's wand and the stolen cores before casting a full-body bind on her.

Sakura's choking noises reminded Harry that he had other matters to attend to. Rushing to her side he worked quickly to dispel the hex. It took several tries to break Ginny's spell, but eventually it unraveled. Sakura coughed up the last few slugs and then started taking shuddering breaths of fresh air. "Thank… thank you-" she managed hoarsely, making a face and spitting out slug slime. "That is really vile."

Neither Harry nor Sakura saw the blast of kinetic magic that hit them from behind, throwing them rolling across the floor and into the wall with painful force. Harry blacked out for a moment, and when he came to Ginny – somehow free of the body bind and the blinding curse – was holding his wand and standing over a stunned Sakura. "Avada Ke-" she shrieked, but before the spell could leap from the wand, a massive furred form shot out of the gloom behind the statues and slammed into Ginny, taking her off of her feet and sending Harry's wand flying into the shadows.

Hermione – shocked into a werewolf transformation by her injuries – snarled, her teeth snapping in front of the younger girl's face. Her paw rose to strike, and Ginny barely got her own hand up in time. Her cores flew to her aid, forming a shimmering veil of magic over her body that stopped Hermione's claws from rending her flesh.

Ginny drew more magic from the stolen cores, and threw Hermione off of her with a terrific impact. "ENOUGH!" Ginny shrieked, clambering to her feet and raising her hands. Three of the smaller cores flew away from her, expanding and becoming translucent as they homed in on Sakura, Harry and Hermione. The first two struck the girls, absorbing and encasing them in green bubbles of magic. The third tracked Harry as he dodged and struck his left leg, forming a short dome that encased him from the waist down. When it appeared he lost all feeling in his legs and was stuck as securely as if mired in stone. Harry tried to grab a kunai or blister bomb, but his pouch was caught in the stasis field, and reaching for it snared his hand as well.

"Really Harry," Ginny panted, using her fingers to restore some order to her tousled hair and grimacing at the damage to her cloak and robes. "I don't want you to go easy on me – we must test each other to grow – but the blinding curse was a little over the top. You wouldn't want to damage your future wife, after all!"

"My what?" Harry glared at her. "You've hurt my friends, Ginny! You've attacked innocent people! You are nothing to me but an enemy, influenced by a veela or not!"

Ginny looked hurt. "You don't mean that Harry," she said. "We're meant for each other, and-"

"You're meant for St. Mungo's, or Azkaban," Harry fired back. "You're a monster! Your own family wouldn't recognize the person I'm looking at right now!"

Ginny flinched as though struck. Her eyes blazed as she crossed the distance between them. She slapped him, hard, and then again from the other side. His head spun, and he tasted blood in his mouth. When he looked up she was already walking away, muttering to herself. "You don't mean that. He doesn't mean it? Of course he doesn't. I just have to become complete, and then I can fix everything. He'll love me. He'll love me."

Striding toward the concealed armoire she'd been fiddling with upon their arrival, Ginny abandoned subtlety and simply blasted the lock apart with a wave of raw magic. Reaching inside, she pulled out a second bracelet identical to the one on her left arm, and slipped it onto her right.

"Finally," Ginny muttered. "Finally, it's done." The last few words dipped into a deeper, more mature tone and carried a foreign accent.

"Ginny?" Harry murmured.

"Ginevra was barely hanging on with half of my soul seeping into her mind," she replied, turning around with an ancient sneer out of place on her youthful face. "She never stood a chance against all of me." Ginny strode toward Harry, her walk different, swaying hips she didn't actually have. "My name is Mei-Liu," she introduced herself with a mocking curtsey, "and you are Harry Potter, the Boy who Lived, and this pathetic girl's pathetic crush."

"Stop this, whoever you are," Harry replied.

"You do not command me, Harry Potter!" Mei-Liu snarled. "Salazar's bones are dust, and you are no Salazar!" She composed herself and took a step back. "Let me show you what I really needed all this magic for. You should witness a goddess' grace before you die."

Harry watched as Mei-Liu's feet left the floor. The stolen cores shifted to a wider orbit around her body, and their dim glow flared to brilliance. In the vibrant green light, Harry could only watch as Ginny's body started to change. She grew until reached an adult's height, her chest and hips filling out. Her clothes grew to fit her and mended in the process.

Ginny's skin slowly darkened from pale to the shade of honey, her freckles vanishing. Her vibrantly red hair changed to black with a raven sheen, and her green eyes turned dark and hungry. Her facial features were the last to change, her eyes narrowing and angling up at the corners, her nose becoming more delicate and her lips thinner.

When Ginny's feet touched the floor again her body was that of a stunningly beautiful Chinese witch in her early twenties. The cruel, speculative gaze in her dark eyes was alien and frightening as she studied Harry like a dish at a banquet. All of the smaller stolen cores had been consumed, and the large one from Lockhart was less than half the size it had been.

"What have you done to Ginny?" Harry growled.

Mei-Liu offered a shark's smile. "Why, I've granted her wish. This silly twit of a girl wanted to be older than her brothers. She wanted to stand above them, to be noticed as more than just the baby of the family. A child's wish, of course, but offering to grant it convinced Ginevra to let me in. I could only work with her dreams at first, but even there I could offer her heart's desire: to be older, to be stronger, and to have the boy she thought would be 'perfect' for her."

Mei-Liu studied him for a moment before shaking her head. "Do you know that Ginevra wanted to share the power I offered her with you? I suppose I could bind you to my will, let her watch the 'hero' she desired bow to me and serve as my slave…"

"Not going to happen," Harry said resolutely.

Mei-Liu shrugged. "Yes, I've seen fire in the eyes of defiant men before. You'd be more trouble to break than you're worth. As a meal, however, you'll serve perfectly; still a boy, but such a vibrant magical core."

Mei-Liu plucked Harry's glasses off and held out an open hand over his face. His eyes started to burn fiercely, and his vision was obscured by jade wisps of energy being drawn out of them. _She's trying to take my magic!_ Not wanting to wind up like Colin and Lockhart was all the motivation Harry needed to draw his magic in tightly around his core. That slowed the painful flow from his eyes, but couldn't halt it.

"Oh by all means fight me," Mei-Liu jeered. "You only delay the inevitable." Moving closer, she gripped the sides of his head with her hands, her mouth opening wide. The pull on his magic got stronger, and through the pain and haze of green he watched her literally _swallowing_ his magic.

"Delay… is all I need…" Harry replied through gritted teeth. He'd been keeping a mental count of the seconds since his lower body had been trapped in the green bubble. Fortunately, veela seemed to share with dark wizards the failing of talking way too much. _114… 115... 116…_

"What?" Mei-Liu demanded. Harry didn't waste breath with a response.

At 120 seconds since the bubble's formation, a small ruby carved with runes on its facets by Remus Lupin registered that it had been out of contact with Harry's magical field for two minutes without the disarming phrase being spoken. It reacted by discharging all of its stored magical energy through the rune on its largest facet, which shaped the outflow into a powerful dispelling charm.

Feeling returned to Harry's legs and hand as the magical bubble imprisoning them collapsed. He drew a kunai from his freed pouch, and didn't hesitate to drive it into Mei-Liu's chest. He'd practiced countless times on dummies formed first from straw, then hard clay with steel ribs. This was his first time sinking a blade into flesh, however, and the first time that he felt warm wetness on his fingers as it sank home.

Mei-Liu's eyes flew wide with shock and pain. She staggered back, clutching at the short blade buried to its handle just below her left breast. She shuddered, falling to her knees as blood trickled from between her lips and poured from the wound to soak her robes. "You… you…" she rasped. Harry spun into a roundhouse kick aimed at her head, but her hand flashed up and caught his ankle short of his target. He managed to pull his leg free and stepped back warily

"You're a clever little beast," Mei-Liu rasped as she climbed back to her feet and wrenched his kunai free of her chest. "But you wasted your one chance; you won't have another." Green wisps of magic poured into her body from Lockhart's stolen core, and the dreadful wound in her chest closed itself up.

"Maybe, maybe not," Harry replied. Plucking the charmed ruby from his pouch he threw it sideways. His vision was blurry, both from losing his glasses and Mei-Liu's aborted attempt to drain his magic. Nonetheless, his aim was true. The gem struck Sakura's prison and dispelled it as well. Sakura fell to the floor, and the jolt of landing woke her up. She scrambled to her feet, eyeing Mei-Liu warily.

"Who the hell is she?" Sakura asked.

"Ginny, or at least the thing that's taken her over," Harry replied.

"Really?" Sakura said with a sigh. "All right, let's finish this."

"One, two… it makes little difference," Mei-Liu said, sniffing dismissively at Sakura as the pink-haired girl stepped up beside Harry to face her.

Harry side-stepped toward the shadows where his wand had been thrown after Hermione tackled Ginny, but Mei-Liu was too fast, moving to bar his path. "None of that, now, Harry Potter," she said. "We could duel with magic and I'd best you, but you two have intrigued me. You fight like the wizards and witches from my mother's homeland, not the soft, complacent wand-wavers that infest this continent."

Mei-Liu held out an open hand, and dozens of tiny orbs of green light snapped into existence above her palm before spiraling outward to form a ring some ten meters across, trapping all three of them inside of it. The orbs circled rapidly, and Harry watched one gouge a melted path through the stone of a statue when it got too close. He shuddered slightly at the thought of trying to get through them, but they were cutting him off from his wand.

Mei-Liu cast off her cloak, revealing a lighter outfit underneath designed for ease of movement. She stood up straight, resting one hand behind her back and beckoning to Harry and Sakura with the other. "Come, you two. Show me your skill and your tricks. We will duel, you will lose, and I will claim your magic."

Harry and Sakura exchanged a glance, nodded, and then circled around their opponent. They moved in on Mei-Liu from two angles; the veela's smile widened, and the battle was on. It had been a year since Harry and Sakura had fought Quirrell, and while they didn't have Naruto or Lee this time, both of them had trained relentlessly. Harry was impressed with the improvement in Sakura's speed and strength, and he knew he'd gotten better, especially once he'd had her and Neji to spar against.

Unfortunately, their opponent seemed every bit as tough as Quirrell. Mei-Liu flowed around most of their strikes with a serpent's grace, and when she did block directly her deceptively slender limbs didn't give a centimeter. She had an advantage in height and reach on them and didn't seem to be a stranger to facing multiple enemies. She rarely fell for Harry or Sakura's gambits meant to force her to focus on one of them to give the other an opening.

"Really missing Neji right now," Sakura panted during a break in the fighting as they studied her warily and she looked back with calm amusement. Harry nodded wordlessly, and then Mei-Liu moved in again and there was no time for talk.

When Harry drew more kunai, Mei-Liu plucked a slender, curved knife from her sash, holding it in her off-hand with the blade resting back against her forearm. After she'd parried a few testing strikes, Harry's suspicions started to mount. "You fight just like _him_ ," Harry muttered.

"Like who?" Mei-Liu asked. "Oh, you mean Quirinus," she said after a moment. "Well of course I do; I was his teacher after all."

Harry stumbled in surprise and earned a bruising kick to the ribs for his trouble. "What? How?"

Mei-Liu tapped her left armlet. "How do you think this came to be in Ginevra's possession?" she asked. "Quirinus' master removed one half of my prison from this very chamber decades ago when he opened it."

"Voldemort?" Harry gasped. "He went to Hogwarts?"

"Of course," Mei-Liu replied as she battered through Sakura's defenses, punching her in the gut with punishing force and following up with a kick that sent her tumbling almost into the orbit of the deadly green motes of magic she'd conjured. "As a boy he called himself Tom Riddle; the pretentious nom de guerre came later. Unfortunately Tom – and later Quirinus – was far too cautious to allow me into his mind. Not like gullible little Ginevra. They demanded my knowledge, and a deal was struck; I would teach them, and in return they would use me as a weapon to strike against their enemies and free myself in the bargain."

"Harry! Keep your head in the fight!" Sakura snapped as she clambered back to her feet.

"Sorry," Harry murmured.

A few minutes later Harry saw an opportunity and gambled on it. As Mei-Liu danced back from a swipe of Sakura's chakra scalpels, Harry aimed a high kick at her shoulder. She dodged that as well, not spotting his true target until it was too late. "No!" Mei-Liu cried out as Harry's foot connected with the floating magical core she'd stolen from Lockhart. The impact sent it flying to the arena's edge, where the green motes struck and shattered it. "You'll pay for that," she raged, back-handing Harry in the side of the head hard enough to make his ears ring.

With her last core gone, however, Harry and Sakura's combination attacks that connected weren't healed away instantly. He was certainly worse for the wear of the long fight in the Chamber, but Sakura still had chakra to spare. She could heal her own wounds and stay fresh. Eventually Mei-Liu began to tire, and being double-teamed took more of a toll.

"Enough…" Mei-Liu snarled, backed up against the edge of the arena by Harry and Sakura. "Enough!" Despite her defiant words, she was bruised and bleeding, her perfect face marred by a swollen cheek and eye from a punch Sakura had gotten through her guard. "I will not be defeated! Not now!" Raising her hands, Mei-Liu threw Harry and Sakura back with a blast of magic.

"Thought you were going to beat us… without magic," Harry growled as he sat up, aching all over.

Mei-Liu snarled and held out her hands. In response the green motes forming the edges of the arena swirled inward, passing over her and forming a shrinking dome around Harry and Sakura. They stood up back to back, warily studying their shrinking prison and looking for a way out. "Don't worry; there won't be anyone alive to know I cheated," she taunted them.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, abomination. Provocatio!" A blue lance of magic shot from the shadows toward Harry and Sakura. Mei-Liu twisted her hand and the green motes collapsed in toward Harry and Sakura, too dense to dodge and impossible to block. The blue light reached them first, enveloping both in a protective shield that absorbed Mei-Liu's attack.

"Professor Snape!" Sakura exclaimed in relief as the hawk-nosed potions master emerged from the shadows.

"Sakura," he murmured. "Glad to see you're still alive. I'd hate to lose my favorite student." He glanced to the side. "And Potter, I suppose."

"You!" Mei-Liu howled, levelling one hand at Snape and unleashing a beam of crackling emerald magic that shot over Harry and Hermione's heads. Snape batted it away with his wand, and it obliterated two statues before it was spent. "I will not lose to _you_!"

"You're right," Snape assured her. "Your defeat will come from other hands. Noctis!" Snape raised his wand, releasing a pulse of inky magic that plunged the Chamber of Secrets into darkness.

Harry couldn't see anything through the black fog outside of the shield Snape had conjured, but he heard rapid footfalls starting in Snape's direction before passing them, and then sounds of fighting from where Mei-Liu had been. Green magic, orange fire, brilliant lightning and other energies Harry had no name for flared in the darkness, but revealed nothing save two silhouettes against the gloom locked in a deadly duel. He heard Mei-Liu's pants and then screams, but whoever was attacking her was barely making any noise at all.

When the darkness faded Mei-Liu lay sprawled on the stones, unmoving. Harry winced at the sight of her; she'd been beaten with impressive savagery and her ragged, torn clothes smoldered in a few places where she'd been burned. Snape dispelled the shield, and both Harry and Sakura collapsed to the floor in total exhaustion, leaning against one another. They watched wearily as Snape crouched next to Mei-Liu, carefully removing her bracelets and wrapping them in magical wards before restraining her physically.

"Can you two walk?" Harry and Sakura exchanged a glance and nodded, helping each other to stand. "Then let's be gone from here." He lifted Mei-Liu's comatose form with his wand, and after studying Hermione's prison figured out how to make it follow him before heading for the entrance.

"Who…" Harry winced at the protest from his ribs as he started walking. "Who was with you, Professor?" A glance around showed that they were alone.

"No one who need concern you, Mr. Potter," Snape responded icily. "If you have energy to talk, move."


	46. Wages of Sin

Chapter Forty-Four: Wages of Sin

* * *

Harry spent the next day in the infirmary with Madame Pomfrey clucking over him and feeding him potions and hearty meals as he recovered from the beating Mei-Liu had handed him before her defeat. Around him Hogwarts hummed like an upset bee hive. Headmaster Dumbledore returned from the conference he had been attending, and the school swarmed with Ministry personnel. Harry even spotted the Minister of Magic himself passing in the halls trailing a group of aides.

Evening had fallen when Harry heard someone coming and looked up from his studies to see Dumbledore at his bedside. "Headmaster!" Harry said with relief. "Is everyone okay? Madame Pomfrey won't tell me anything!"

Dumbledore smiled and drew a wand from his sleeve, offering it to Harry hilt-first. "You dropped this in the excitement below the school, I believe," he noted.

"My wand! Thank you, headmaster," Harry exclaimed, taking it eagerly.

Dumbledore slowly sat down in the chair next to Harry's bed. "As to your question, your friends are all safe. Ronald Weasley disobeyed Professor McGonagall… slightly. Rather than returning to the Gryffindor Tower directly, he carried warnings to all four dorms that there was a basilisk loose in the school. It was a brave decision."

Harry smiled faintly. "That does sound like Ron," he admitted.

"Ms. Granger has been safely extracted from the magical trap that was employed against her, and returned to her natural form. Ms. Haruno came out of your shared confrontation in better shape than you did, and has been watching over Ms. Granger since."

"That's good," Harry said in relief. "What about Ginny and the veela's victims?"

Dumbledore's expression became grave and mournful. "Experts in soul magic from the Ministry have extracted as much of the stolen magic from young Ginevra as they could. Professor Lockhart and the students who were drained have been restored… to an extent. None of them will be as powerful as they were, but they will recover." Dumbledore sighed. "All except poor Colin Creevey; he was the veela's first victim, and the youngest. Regrettably, he was so weak from his long coma that he passed away during the attempt to restore his magic."

"Oh no…" Harry murmured. "His parents… his little brother… do they know?"

"I just concluded a meeting with them," Dumbledore said sadly. "They have stated their intent to move to Canada where their extended family lives, once they have buried their son. As to Ginevra… well, her fate is still uncertain; the Ministry has not yet decided on a punishment for her."

"Punishment?" Harry said. "Mei-Liu used her!"

Dumbledore sighed. "Influenced by those dark constructs or not, Ginevra is responsible for Colin's death and the theft of magic from almost a dozen wizards." Dumbledore paused. "She has asked to speak to you, but you are under no obligation to-"

"Is she Ginny again? Not Mei-Liu?" Harry interrupted.

"The soul of Salazar's pet is no more," Dumbledore replied firmly. "The bracelets that housed the veela's essence were dissolved in basilisk venom this afternoon. Ginevra is restored to herself, at least in mind."

Harry took a deep breath. He didn't particularly want to see Ginny again so soon, but he could imagine how scared and alone she probably felt. "I guess it can't hurt then," he said reluctantly.

After getting dressed, Harry walked down to the dungeons with Dumbledore. He'd never thought about that name much before; 'the dungeons' had always been the location of the Slytherin dorms and the potions classroom, but it turned out that a few of the cells were actually usable, in the rare instance that Hogwarts had to house a prisoner pending custody transfer to the Ministry.

It was in one of those cells that Harry came face to face with Ginny Weasley again. Arthur Weasley was there as well, stone-faced, along with Percy, who looked at his 'little' sister with a mixture of pity and horror. Harry understood immediately why Dumbledore had said 'in mind, at least'. The cell's occupant, dressed in an ill-fitting gray robe, was physically still very much Mei-Liu, a twenty-something Chinese witch. None of her mannerisms matched, though; Ginny was hugging herself, sitting curled up on the bed against the wall. The dark eyes that darted up to look at him were empty of malice. All he saw was fear, confusion… and guilt.

"Harry…" she said. It was Mei-Liu's honeyed voice, but with none of the confidence or cruelty. It also didn't sound like Ginny; at least not the Ginny Harry had come to know over the school year. _Then again, I guess I never met the Ginny who wasn't under Mei-Liu's influence._ "You're all right. Thank goodness."

"Ginny," he said. "Do you feel okay?"

She laughed harshly. "I don't remember the last month, and everything going back to the summer feels like a dream. I hurt so many people, and…" she swallowed hard. "Colin is dead, apparently. No Harry, I'm not okay." She looked at her own hands, which started shaking. "She even took my body."

Harry blinked in surprise at the last. "They can't change you back?" he said. "Aren't aging spells supposed to be temporary and easily reversible because the magical core knows how old it is and struggles to revert itself?"

Tears glittered in Ginny's eyes. "The healers who came to examine me say this isn't just an aging spell, it's a curse like none they've seen. It might even be the curse that created the first veela. I'm not even human anymore, Harry," she explained in a dull tone. Arthur pressed his fist to his mouth, containing himself. Percy looked away. "They say Mei-Liu's gone, but my body… I'm still a veela. Permanently."

Harry stared at her, and couldn't help but feeling pity and horror, even after all she'd done. _Veela in Britain don't have any legal standing,_ he realized. _The Ministry kills them just for trying to enter the country. Ginny… Mei-Liu fed and killed using her body._ Looking around, Harry saw that grim knowledge on every face in the room except Ginny's, and realized they hadn't told her yet.

"Are your friends all right?" Ginny asked. "Sakura and Hermione… did Mei-Liu," she looked down, "did I hurt them?"

"The headmaster says they're both fine," Harry replied as gently as he could. He hated Mei-Liu for what she'd done, but it was impossible for him to hate the person in front of him now. "Mei-Liu didn't injure them badly."

Harry left the dungeons with Dumbledore soon after. "The Ministry is going to kill her, aren't they?"

Dumbledore sighed. "The Minister of Magic wished for a dementor's kiss to be applied immediately. I've delayed that by keeping Ginevra inside the school as long as I can, but if she is turned over to the Ministry as things stand? Yes, they will kill her."

"It's not right!" Harry said immediately. "None of this was Ginny' s fault. Voldemort and Quirrell did this to her!"

Dumbledore stopped walking. "How did you know about Quirrell's involvement?" He asked in surprise. "It took quite a bit of work with memory charms to discover that Quirrell slipped the first bracelet to Ginevra during her school shopping trip."

"Mei-Liu told me," Harry replied. "She taunted me with the knowledge that she trained Quirrell and then was unleashed on Hogwarts to strike at Voldemort's enemies."

"Interesting," Dumbledore murmured. "Harry… would you be willing to share that memory? It might help Ginevra's case."

Mentally, Harry reviewed the conversation. If the memory contained any of his or Sakura's true martial abilities, he couldn't afford to share it. After a moment he relaxed; Mei-Liu had hit him and Sakura during the exchange, but they hadn't done anything exceptional in return. "I suppose," Harry said.

"Close your eyes and focus on that memory," Dumbledore urged. Harry did so, and felt the Headmaster's wand touch his temple. When he opened his eyes, Dumbledore was tapping a silver filament from his wand's tip into a vial. "Thank you, Harry. Now, I think you should return to the dormitories and assure your friends and house mates that you are well."

* * *

More than a week passed before Harry learned to what use Dumbledore had put the memory he'd taken. Meanwhile, life went on. End of year exams were held, and while watching the fourth and seventh-years sweat through the OWLs and NEWTs was amusing to Harry, preparation for his own exams was less so. Hermione, recovered from their battle and her off-moon transformation, was a relentless taskmistress, much to the amusement of Sakura who had attended for only half a year and was thus excused from the exams.

The day after the last exam Harry, Ron and Hermione were just relaxing and playing mindless games when Percy entered the common room, a grave expression on his face. "Ron, it seems that our… sister's fate has been decided," he said with a grimace. "She's being taken out of the castle."

Ron sat up, looking stunned. "Right now? What's going to happen to Ginny?"

Percy shrugged. "I don't know. You should go down to the entry hall if you want to say goodbye." Percy hadn't visited Ginny again after that first day, while every other member of the family including their parents had put other matters aside to spend time with Ginny as she came to terms with her transformation. Arthur, Bill and Charlie had taken time off of work to be there. As far as Harry was aware Percy hadn't even spoken her name since then.

Ron took off immediately, and after exchanging a glance Harry and Hermione went with him. They raced through the castle down to the entry hall, where they discovered what amounted to a small delegation. The whole Weasley clan – minus Percy – was there, along with Dumbledore, McGonagall and an official from the Ministry. They were all clustered around Ginny – her foreign and adult appearance still jarring – and a tall, slender blonde witch in her forties with an emblem on her robes that Harry didn't recognize. "That's the logo of the France's equivalent to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement here," Hermione whispered to Ron and Harry.

Ginny still looked withdrawn and subdued, her shoulders hunched in and her gaze on the floor. She had been given unadorned brown robes that fit better, but Harry's attention was drawn to a new adornment. Encircling her neck was a collar made of woven silver, studded with four sapphires around its circumference. The older blonde standing next to her wore an identical piece of jewelry.

When they got closer, Harry could hear what the Ministry official was saying. "For crimes against wizard-kind including murder and theft of magic, as well as self-transformation into a veela, Ginevra Weasley has been condemned by the Ministry of Magic." Fred and George both looked like they wanted to say something rude, but Bill and Charlie squeezed their shoulders warningly. "Ordinarily the sentence would be death by dementor's kiss, but… certain parties have insisted on leniency due to extenuating circumstances." The Ministry official shot irritated looks at Dumbledore… and Harry. The headmaster winked at Harry and tapped his temple when the official wasn't looking.

"Instead, Ginevra Weasley is exiled from magical Britain on pain of death should she return," the official continued, "and remanded into the custody of our friends and allies in France." The French blonde looked amused at that, but remained silent. "Remove Ms. Weasley and yourself from Britain by sundown tonight," he said to the blonde in a less formal tone. "She's your problem now."

"It shall be done," the blonde replied in melodic English with a notable French accent. The Ministry official nodded and departed without another word.

The blonde placed a hand on Ginny's shoulder. "We must depart, cherie," she said gently. "Say your goodbyes to your family."

Ginny nodded, wiping away a tear from her eye. "They'll be able to visit me in France?"

"But of course," was the compassionate reply. "Your family will always be welcome in my home, for it will be yours as well."

Ginny hugged her parents, her mother in tears and her father not far from them. She talked quietly for a time with her brothers, and Harry heard Ginny tell Ron, "Say goodbye to Percy for me."

Harry looked at Dumbledore and McGonagall curiously. "What's going on?" he asked quietly. "Is this a good thing? Who's that?" he nodded to the French blonde, who looked up despite his low volume.

"My name is Apolline Delacour," she answered for herself. "You must be young Harry Potter. Word of your exploits has spread in certain circles, even across the Channel."

"Pleased to meet you," he replied politely. "Where are you taking Ginny?"

"That is her business and not yours, young man," Apolline replied primly. "Suffice to say, your Ministry has been convinced not to kill her out of misguided fear and ignorance."

Ginny appeared at Apolline's side. "It's all right for him to know, Ms. Delacour," she said quietly.

"Very well, ma petite," Apolline replied before turning back to Harry. "It seems certain of my superiors owe your headmaster some rather large favors, because they have agreed to allow Ginevra to be fostered with my family. She will be educated alongside my daughters Fleur and Gabrielle, and share their purpose. Ours is not an easy life, but it is preferable to being hunted to one's grave."

"What life is that?" Harry asked.

Apolline stood up straight, and Harry felt her open her personal wards for just an instant, long enough to feel her strength. Magically she was almost as strong as the Headmaster himself. "I am a chasseur de magie," she told Harry formally as she veiled her power once more, "A hunter of witches, wizards and any other magical being who misuses their gift. My ancestors followed the same profession, and my daughters will succeed me. Ginevra will be schooled in our trade as well, her curse put to a noble use just as ours is."

Harry studied Apolline for a moment, taking in her unearthly beauty, and the statement clicked. He couldn't help a reflexive step back. "You're a veela."

Apolline's head tilted to the side, her gaze boring into him. "You recently fought for your life against Ginevra when she was possessed and Unbound, so I will excuse your rudeness. Yes, I am a veela."

"But you… you work for the French Ministry?" Harry asked.

Apolline laughed softly. "I do, young man, and my superiors know _exactly_ what I am. Unlike your government, France's magical authorities long ago saw the potential of veela, if proper safeguards were put in place. We are more powerful magically than a majority of witches or wizards and far more resilient physically. Beyond that we are hunters of men to our cores, perfectly suited to eliminating threats to the lives and safety of our nation's citizens."

Apolline touched the choker around her neck, and gestured to the one Ginny wore. "The enchantments woven into these dampen the faim eternelle, the ceaseless hunger for magic. Wearing them we are Bound; we are not driven to kill merely to feed. We take magic only from the condemned, much as your dementors do," she smiled sardonically, "and unlike dementors we can operate among a magical or mundane populace without driving bystanders mad with terror."

Harry studied the necklace. "I'm betting it does more than that," he murmured.

Apolline's smile sharpened. "You are perceptive for one so young," she replied with a nod. "Wearing a death curse for all of one's days is not an easy thing, but it is preferable to the alternative." Straightening, she snapped her fingers. "But we have tarried too long. Come, Ginevra; we are leaving. I would not care to have to explain to your aurors why you were not removed from their soil in a timely manner."

Ginny paused as she passed Harry. "The headmaster said you helped him save me," she whispered. "Thank you, Harry." Then she was gone. Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys watched Ginny follow Apolline across the bridge to the edge of the school grounds, where Apolline raised her wand and apparated both of them away.

* * *

 _Shortly before the House Cup_

Neji Hyuuga slipped down one of the corridors leading off of the entry hall, whispering the single word that was among the first he'd learned. "Byakugan." His visual perspective leapt out from a narrow, confining 180 degrees to take in everything in the entry hall behind him, and the entirety of the service corridor ahead. His vision did not, however, penetrate through the walls, a reminder that he was still very far from Konoha. Magically charged structures interfered with his byakugan's sight in uniquely frustrating ways.

The hallway ahead of Neji was empty even around the bend, which was odd, given that he'd moved quickly after spotting Hogwarts' newest hire, the replacement caretaker. He'd have been puzzled if he hadn't accidentally glimpsed what was hiding behind Ms. Harken's unassuming outward appearance a few days earlier. At the limits of his vision, Neji did see a door swinging shut, impossibly far ahead for a Squib to have reached so quickly. Smiling thinly, he applied his own true speed. The door had swung shut with a click of the lock re-engaging, but a few careful taps of chakra-charged fingers coaxed the lock into opening again. Beyond was a narrow service corridor with another closed door at the end. Ignoring the 'No students beyond this point' sign on the door he'd just opened, Neji headed down the hall and opened the second door, revealing a store room filled with furniture covered in dust cloths that were quite dusty indeed.

Neji took in the room's interior and saw Mildred Harken standing before him. "Oh dear," she murmured. "Did you miss the sign, young man? Students aren't allowed back here; you'd better go before I have to assign you detention."

"I saw the sign," Neji replied politely, "but I'm not a student any more than you're a school caretaker. You're Kushina Uzumaki, aren't you?"

Mildred blinked. "Why, what an odd thing to say. My name is Mildred Harken. Are you feeling all right, young man? Perhaps you should pay Madame Pomfrey a visit?"

"Maybe I should do that. Or maybe I should tell Harry Potter that a kunoichi with red hair and one arm was imprisoned in the Ministry of Magic, and the same kunoichi now works at his school wrapped in an impressively well-constructed chakra mask?"

'Mildred' sighed, slipping off her glasses. When she looked back up her eyes were hard and blue. "Only the Hyuuga Clan could manage to be a pain in my ass in two different worlds. I wouldn't have cared if you'd just told Harry what you'd seen, but now that you've confronted me I can't let you tell him that I'm alive."

Neji shrugged. "I don't know why you've let your son believe you're dead, but to be honest I don't much care either. I just need answers."

Kushina's eyes narrowed. "What answers do you think I have?"

"I'm sick of this strange, alien world, and I don't want to spend the rest of my life here." Neji told Kushina evenly. "I want to return to Konoha, and you must know a different way to do that than we used if you've been here for more than a decade. Tell me, and I won't be obligated to tell Harry anything."

Kushina studied him silently for a moment. "Well if you don't already know how I got here, then you didn't come the way I did. That's convenient, actually. It means you can return by that path. But before I tell you about my means, how _did_ you get here?"

Neji studied Kushina for a moment before nodding shortly. "Assuming what I have been told is true, a woman named Lily Haruno – who raised my former teammate Naruto Uzumaki, your other son – created a bracelet that uses both chakra and magic to create a bridge between the two worlds. When Naruto uses it, it's a two-way street with a time limit dictated by his chakra reserves. When we were about to die and Sakura used it however, we were stranded here."

Neji saw Kushina's neutral expression crack, a smile tugging at her lips for a moment. "Naruto and Lily are well then? Lily took care of him?"

"Naruto never complained about his home life, so I assume it was unremarkable at worst. He was off to the Chuunin Exam the last I heard of him; I doubt anyone there could kill him with that demon inside of him. Lily Haruno was abducted from her home by Itachi Uchiha two years ago, so I cannot attest to her current condition." He paused. "I've told you what you want to know. Answer my question. How do I return to Konoha?"

"Mikoto's son did what?" Kushina growled before shaking her head. "Never mind; I'll be happy to send you on your way, provided you give me your word that you won't tell anyone – in either world – that I am still alive. That knowledge would cause great harm if it were revealed."

"Get me home and you have my word as a Hyuuga that I will keep your secret," Neji replied.

"What about the pink-haired girl?" Kushina asked. "I assume she's another Haruno?"

Neji shrugged. "Sakura likes it here and has faith Naruto will come for her. I don't share either sentiment."

Kushina nodded. "All right; the way back to Konoha is simple, but listen closely and commit this to memory. Once you pass through this world's ring of light, follow the path to the main boulevard, but don't let yourself be distracted or swept away. If you do, you'll never return. Instead, you need to find another branching path that perfectly resembles the forests outside of Konoha. With your byakugan it shouldn't be hard. Go down that path and step through the ring of light you find there. Don't let its guardian talk you out of doing so. It's the only way you can return to the Elemental Nations."

Neji blinked, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Just remember those instructions," Kushina insisted. "Repeat them back to me."

Neji did so dubiously, and Kushina nodded in approval. With his byakugan active, Neji saw a kunai drop from Kushina's sleeve into her hand. He started moving, so her first shunshin-assisted stab only sliced along his ribs. Her second strike was faster, and her blade sank home in his chest.

"Why?" Neji gasped out, pain wracking him for a moment before it was replaced by spreading numbness.

"I had to die to come here," Kushina whispered in his ear as she eased him to the ground. "You asked to walk my path. Remember my words… and remember your promise when you're home again. Harry can't know about me." She drove the kunai the last few centimeters into his heart, and Neji fell into darkness.


	47. Cold Comfort

_Author's Note: An eagle-eyed guest reviewer noticed that I misspelled Ginny's full name about a dozen times in the last two chapters. So thank you, passing stranger!_

Chapter Forty-Five: Cold Comfort

* * *

The sections of Konoha devastated by Shukaku's rampage were slowly being rebuilt, but at night they were little more than a series of empty construction sites, their former residents having perished or taken shelter elsewhere in the village. As a result, there was no one to witness a remarkable event happening for only the second time in the history of the Elemental Nations.

An empty section of sand-blasted roadway was lit up by a pinpoint of white light that rapidly expanded into a vertical ring two meters tall. Cold gray fog slowly billowed from the hazy depths of the portal, pooling along the ground on meeting Konoha's warmer air. After a few seconds, something more solid followed. Neji Hyuuga stepped through the ring, his hair and clothes rimed with frost. Scarce had his boots met the road than the ring of light snapped shut behind him and disappeared, plunging him into darkness. The street lights had yet to be replaced, so only the stars and a sliver of moon lit the area around him.

Neji shivered violently, and muttered a heartfelt curse toward the entire Uzumaki clan, even if it had been reduced to an idealistic knuckleheaded demon vessel and his horrid mother. "'Follow the paths', she said," Neji muttered in a mockery of Kushina's voice. "She might have elaborated on the last bit about running through a dark fog that's as cold as the grave." Neji shivered again, not from the cold clinging to him, but from the realization that the grave was exactly where he'd been. He rubbed his chest absently, wishing he couldn't remember with such clarity having a kunai driven through his heart.

"Byakugan," Neji murmured as the warmer air of his destination slowly banished the chill of the place between life and death. He noted with faint relief that Kushina had at least not misled him completely; he was back in Konoha.

It took a moment for Neji to notice something different about his byakugan activation. He could see much further than he ever had before… and the familiar ache in his forehead that had come when he activated his eyes every other time in his life was gone.

Neji didn't have a mirror handy, but his all-encompassing vision showed him the astonishing truth: his Caged Bird Seal was gone! He brushed his forehead with suddenly trembling fingers. The curse carved into his forehead – the hated mark that had made him a slave to the main family – had been erased at some point on his trip through death and back to life.

Neji's expanded vision also showed him the odd, twisting construct of chakra and _magic_ that was Naruto's bracelet. It had fallen into the sewer nearby, and had apparently been used by some enterprising vermin as part of a nest. He was strongly tempted to leave it where it lay, but he decided reluctantly that Sakura didn't deserve to be stranded on Earth even if she was one of those irritatingly optimistic and cheerful kinds of kunoichi, and related to Naruto to boot. Swiping a piece of canvas from one of the construction sites, Neji descended into the sewer, breathing shallowly as he kicked the rat nest apart and picked up the bracelet with the cloth, careful not to touch it in the process of wrapping it up.

Returning to the surface, Neji considered what to do next. The vanishing of the Caged Bird Seal changed all of his plans. A crooked smile crossed Neji's face as he realized that he didn't have to go back to the clan he despised. After being gone so long they would surely have given him up for dead. _I can do whatever I want; forge my own destiny. My fate… is now what I make it._ Neji glanced at the bracelet in his hand. _First thing's first, though. Figure out where Naruto is and give this to him so Sakura can come home._

* * *

"One hand, Naruto," Genma said sternly.

Naruto snatched back his left hand from the rubber ball in his right, glancing guiltily at his sensei. "Why?" Naruto complained. "It's difficult enough trying to do this at all and one-handed just makes it harder!" In answer, Jiraiya appeared on the other side of Naruto from Genma and snapped his hand open. A bluish-white sphere of chakra appeared, humming softly as if to warn of its deadly touch.

"The rasengan was created by your father," Jiraiya explained. "I wouldn't expect most genin to be able to master it, but the potential's in your blood. The rasengan is one of the two deadliest melee-range ninjutsu I know of. It can grind through almost anything – including the hide of a bijuu – but if you can't form it as quickly as drawing a kunai, its utility drops off dramatically. No opponent in a serious fight is going to wait around for you to wave your hands until you form the instrument of their doom. You popped a water balloon with one hand and you can burst that ball the same way."

Grumbling under his breath, Naruto went back to rotating chakra inside the hollow rubber ball with as much force as he could manage. _Cutting_ the ball open from the inside was easy; all he had to do was add wind chakra, his natural element. That sliced it to pieces, though; Jiraiya had told him that he wouldn't be done until the ball exploded.

Pausing to take a drink from one of his canteens, Naruto looked up from his practice to glance around. Jiraiya, Kakashi, Genma, Misa, Lee, Sai and Naruto all wore pale hooded cloaks to shield them from the ravages of the sun, but nothing could stop the heat from hammering at them.

Jiraiya's hunt team was in the deep desert, crossing one dune after another as they moved closer to Suna. Theirs was the only team that could enter the deep desert easily. Most other Leaf teems in Suna's territory had to stay closer to water sources, but both Jiraiya and Kakashi possessed ninjutsu strong enough to pull water up from deep aquifers each night to refill their canteens.

The war was going reasonably well for Konoha. Even after the sneak attack, Konoha's attack force equaled Suna's entire force under arms. Since Suna had to defend a lot of territory while the Leaf ninja could strike at will and then burn whatever they didn't cart off, that meant that the Sand village was hemorrhaging personnel and resources. Couriers had been intercepted trying to slip through Konoha's lines, and they carried missives to the Raikage and Otokage pleading for aid. Other task forces were making it their business to ensure none of those messages got through.

The sun was setting when Sai whistled loudly, getting everyone's attention. He pointed to the horizon slightly south of their rear. A column of smoke was rising in the distance, and although it was hard to tell at first against the orange-red evening sky, Naruto realized after a moment that it was purple. "Contact," Jiraiya called out, and everyone stiffened to attention. It was the signal they'd been waiting for: Gaara Sabaku had been spotted by one of the other raiding parties.

"You ready for a sprint, kid?" Jiraiya asked of Sai, who appeared to brace himself before nodding.

"I'll have to be," Sai replied as he took out his largest drawing scroll and his hands started flying. In the space of minutes he produced six large ink birds. Lee and the four adults each mounted one, while Naruto and Sai shared the last. "You're going to have to make sure I stay mounted," Sai warned Naruto, his face drawn as the birds left the ground in tandem. "I have to focus on maintaining these constructs."

"Got it," Naruto replied, getting a firm hold on Sai as the other boy leaned against his chest and closed his eyes. Aloft, they moved far faster than they had on foot. Genma's bird took the lead, as he had the most experience guiding Sai's creations, and the rest simply followed in its wake. After several minutes the smoke pillar was disrupted by a plume of disturbed sand and tapered off, but they already had a heading.

The sun set and the moon rose to replace it as the team flew south. After half an hour even Naruto's less-than-average chakra sense could detect Sai's chakra levels dipping. "Do we need to land?"

"Not… yet…" was Sai's strained reply.

A minute after that the sand blurring below abruptly changed to an oasis village nestled among the dunes. They circled, surveying the devastation below from the air. A battle had clearly been fought; civilian, Leaf and Sand ninja bodies were all visible amid the rubble of dozens of damaged or collapsed buildings. A trail of debris and disturbed sand extended a kilometer or so to the west before tapering off. Genma turned the aerial convoy, and they set off in that direction. Glancing back, Naruto could see the surviving Leaf ninja on the ground sprint along in their wake.

Off to the side, Naruto noticed Kakashi raising his normally canted hitai-ate and peering into the gloom ahead of them. "Down," he yelled. Genma complied, setting his bird into a dive. Four of the others followed in time but Naruto and Sai – located at the rear of the formation – were the last to move. Naruto saw the night air ahead of them ripple a split-second before their bird exploded in a cloud of ink, and gravity had them in its grip.

Keeping his hands tightly wrapped around Sai's waist, Naruto managed to stay vertical as they fell, and gritted his teeth, pushing as much wind chakra as he could _down_ through his feet, slowing their fall. Naruto turned to put himself under Sai at the last second, knowing he was far more durable than his teammate. That meant taking the force of both of their landings, and even sand wasn't very forgiving if you landed on it hard enough. Naruto felt things tear and break inside of him, and would have screamed if his lungs hadn't been empty already.

Naruto blacked out briefly, and when he came to Misa Shibaya was crouched over him, her hands glowing. "You hardly need this, really," she muttered, "but we need to move. How do you feel, kid?"

"… _ow_ ," was Naruto's groaned reply. He swiped at wetness on his cheek, and came away with a bloody hand.

"If you can moan then you're fine; get up. You have a murderer to kill, remember?" Misa dragged Naruto to his feet, and he saw that the rest of the team was assembled around him looking none the worse for wear. It still hurt a bit when he moved, but even those aches were fading.

"Is everyone okay?" Naruto asked.

"Perfectly fine," Misa replied. "You saved our young ink master from serious injury, and the rest of the birds came apart at a lower altitude than yours; our landings were memorable, but not harmful."

"If Naruto's okay we need to move," Kakashi added. "Those wind blades came from Gaara's companions. They're close, and they know we're coming for them."

Misa, who had moved from Naruto to Sai, shook her head slowly as she fed him some water and one of her soldier pills. "This kid's spent," she told them. "Go if you need to, but I'll have to stay with him until he's recovered a bit."

"Fair enough," Jiraiya decided. "Catch up when you can."

Minus Sai and Misa but reinforced by a dozen or so Leaf survivors of the fight in the oasis town, the band set off at a sprint over the dunes. Cresting the fourth such dune from their landing site Genma – who had taken point – dove to the side as the spot he'd been standing on exploded, raining sand down on the rest of them. Naruto and the others split and circled around the dune, and finally came face-to-face with the enemy, the traitorous former allies that had devastated Konoha from within.

There were ten them; two three-man teams of veiled Suna ninja in their standard tan-and-brown uniforms, along with four who dressed differently and looked just like Konoha's intel had described them. Baki was a fierce-looking Sand jounin with half of his face veiled. Temari was a blonde girl with four pigtails who discarded her cloak to reveal a brief outfit with a lot of fishnet and a large metal war fan. Kankuro stood beside her, a stocky boy in a dark hooded outfit with white and purple paint covering his face. Behind them was the smallest of the four, Gaara, a skinny red-head with dark circles around his eyes carrying a gourd on his back.

The uniformed Sand ninja moved to flank them, and Lee joined the Konoha regulars to meet them. Baki's hands blurred and Kakashi stepped forward, mirroring the Sand jounin's movements. Baki hurled howling wind blades at the Leaf ninja, and Kakashi retaliated with the same. The waves of cutting air cancelled each other out, producing an airburst that knocked both sides back on their heels.

When the air stilled Naruto's eyes locked with Gaara's, and he felt a flare of rage roar to life in his chest. Kyuubi's chakra poured forth in response, and wisps of sooty red started to rise from Naruto's skin. "Murderer," he shouted, sprinting forward.

"Naruto, no!" Jiraiya called out, but the fury pounding in his skull would not be denied. A rattling wooden construct exploded from the sand in front of Naruto, four bladed arms curving in to eviscerate him. Kyuubi's chakra exploded through his skin in a full veil like it had during his confrontation with Samui, Karui and Omoi. The puppet's blades struck Naruto and shattered. A moment later his fist connected with its rotund body and sooty orange chakra pulsed out from the point of impact, shredding the puppet and flashing back down the previously invisible chakra threads. From the corner of his eye Naruto saw Kankuro cry out and stagger back, chakra burn patterns like lightning strikes on a tree running down his fingers and hands from the feedback.

Baki was preparing to fire another wind blast at Naruto when Genma flashed into close range, forcing him to abort the hand signs and draw kunai to defend himself. Temari stepped into Naruto's path, her fan snapping open as she swung it. A wall of air hit Naruto, slamming him to a stop and then throwing him backward. "You won't touch him," she shouted defiantly.

Digging his heels into the sand, Naruto arrested his backward momentum. Temari's attacks reminded him of Samui and Omoi's attempts to keep him at bay, but instead of merely doing the same thing he had against them, Naruto applied some of his new lessons. He formed a wind bomb and applied the rapid rotation of his chakra that had been part of the rasengan training. The wind bomb grew into a whirling, howling maelstrom in Naruto's hand. He was set to throw it when Kyuubi whispered to him. **"She's a ranged specialist; throw that and she'll block it. Instead…"**

Kyuubi's words took only an instant to meet Naruto's thoughts, and with them came knowledge. Extending his chakra cloak past his arm, Naruto formed it into a shape like a cannon barrel, and then released the chakra of the rotating wind bomb. What emerged was a focused blast of spinning reddish wind chakra tapering to a point at the tip that leapt toward Temari with shocking speed. Her reflexive wind blast diverted its course, but the chakra flowing down the wind drill guided it back on target.

Eyes widening, Temari managed to get her fan's reinforced steel frame in the path of Naruto's attack. The wind drill struck the fan's frame and punched a hole clean through the outer plate, shredding the folds inside. Its momentum still not spent, the disintegrating drill popped the back plate free of the frame, which struck Temari square in the center of mass with punishing force. The blow sent her flying backward until she hit the dune behind her hard enough to crater on impact. She groaned and stirred slightly before her eyes slid shut.

"They can't save you, murderer," Naruto snarled as he closed in on Gaara.

"I never needed their help," Gaara replied coldly. "Mother says you're like me. That's good; killing you will give me purpose."

"I'm nothing like you," Naruto screamed, ephemeral claws of Kyuubi's chakra forming around his fingers as he drove them at Gaara. A wall of hard sand rose between them, and Naruto shredded it in a few swipes, but when he got through Gaara had risen up and away on a platform of floating sand. He spread his hands and the dunes around them trembled, tons of sand rising up to swirl around him.

"Maybe you don't understand," Gaara said, his voice amplified and carried through the roaring of the sands. "You're in my element. What Mother did to your village is nothing compared to what I'M GOING TO DO TO YOU!" An entire dune of sand rose up, forming a fist the size of a city block that descended toward Naruto.

"Naruto!" someone shouted in alarm, but he tuned it out and gathered chakra. Kyuubi contributed willingly, and Naruto's hands burned from the intensity of the power he forced through them, making a vertical slashing motion as he released it. The wind blade that exploded from his hands was titanic, glowing red as it flew up to meet Gaara's attack. The blade split the dune-sized fist of sand in two and continued onward. The bisected fist landed on either side of Naruto, driving him to one knee with the intensity of the shaking it produced.

When the rumbling faded to a hiss of settling sand Naruto looked up at Gaara on his platform. The last of the wind blade's energy had reached its target, and Gaara was bleeding from a narrow, shallow cut from shoulder to thigh on his left side. For a moment Naruto wondered why his attack hadn't cut deeper – it should have sheared through stone, much less flesh – but then he saw bloody sand crawling across Gaara's skin to hide the wound and understood; he had a layer of sand covering his body at all times.

"You… you struck me?" Gaara panted, staring at the blood spattering his left hand. That hand started to shake. "Is this pain?"

"You don't know what pain is yet, bastard," Naruto shouted back. "Not yet." Gaara started screaming in response, and thick tendrils of sand rose from the desert below him, forming a shell of sand that thickened with each passing second.

"He's committed to the transformation! Genma, Kakashi, _now_!" Jiraiya shouted. A glance to the side showed Naruto that Baki was down, twitching as sparks ran over his skin and bleeding from dozens of puncture wounds caused by long white needles that looked like hair. He also saw the Sannin tossing Genma and Kakashi the pair of spears he'd carried wrapped in cloth since they'd left Konoha. They weren't wrapped anymore, and Naruto could see designs glowing with chakra carved into the metal spearheads.

Both spears crackled with lightning as Kakashi and Genma charged them, sprinting out to either side of Gaara's growing sand ball before taking several steps forward in tandem and hurling them at the shielded jinchuuriki. The spears cut through the sand orb like hot knives through butter, disappearing inside. A second later Gaara's screams got louder, and the sand ball melted away.

Naruto expected to see Gaara spitted like a pig, but such was not the case. The spears had intersected behind Gaara, forming an 'X' that hovered in the air behind him, discharging electricity into his body. Gaara twitched and screamed as the energy shredded his sand armor and played over his bare skin, leaving branching electrical burns in their wake. He struggled to break free, but the crossed spears pulled him in and intensified their assault. All around the Leaf shinobi the sand stirred and tried to rise, only to fall back to the dunes as the next wave of electricity played over Gaara.

"Mother, help me!" Gaara screamed, and Naruto could see electricity arcing between his teeth, lighting up the darkness of his mouth. After several more long seconds the spears were spent of their energy and Gaara fell. He hit the sand with a _THUD_ , and in an instant Naruto was there. His orange-wreathed fist met Gaara's face as he tried to sit up, slamming him back into the sand. Grabbing the collar of Gaara's armor Naruto pulled him up and hit him again, sending cracks across what little sand armor had survived Jiraiya's spears.

Naruto hit Gaara again and again, his blows soon meeting flesh and bone rather than hard sand, sending blood spatters to stain the dry dunes. Gaara stopped moving, but Naruto barely noticed, his own rage and Kyuubi's cycling in an endless loop and feeding each other. Dimly, Naruto became aware that he was screaming over and over, "You killed her, you killed her, she just wanted to help people and you killed her!"

Naruto's fist drew back again, and someone grabbed his wrist. Blinded by the Kyuubi's hate and his own Naruto lashed out behind him with chakra claws and felt the grip disappear. **"They'll stop you soon,"** Kyuubi urged Naruto. **"Finish it, just as I showed you."**

Naruto opened his right hand, already wet with Gaara's blood, and focused Kyuubi's chakra. Glowing symbols appeared in the blood. They vaguely resembled the designs on Jiraiya's spears, but even Naruto could tell it was a different language. Just looking at the patterns made Naruto shiver; they were dark and profane.

"Naruto, stop!" he heard someone yell, but it was like the buzzing of a gnat at the edge of Naruto's consciousness. Sakura's killer was in front of him, and the Kyuubi's demand that Shukaku suffer for his trespass was matched by Naruto's own fierce need to see Gaara _pay._ Naruto heard steps on the sand behind him, but it wasn't fast enough. His lips twisting into a rictus of hate, Naruto plunged his glowing chakra claws dancing with profane symbols into Gaara's stomach, slicing through the armor there and plunging deep into the flesh.

The wound woke Gaara from his stupor, and he screamed and thrashed as Kyuubi's dark jutsu slid into all of the points where Gaara's seal met his chakra network… and restructured the barriers that separated bijuu from vessel. Naruto was dimly aware of Kyuubi's surprise at how poorly constructed Gaara's seal was; it already allowed a great deal of contact between the two minds, and subverting it was the work of an instant.

Gaara screamed again, and Naruto watched the whites of his eyes turn black as not just Shukaku's chakra but very essence poured into his mortal frame, mixing the two together irrevocably. In theory such a merging would simply make Gaara stronger, putting him in a permanent state of fusion with his bijuu, but the perverse genius of Kyuubi's dark jutsu was tangling Shukaku's chakra hopelessly with Gaara's as it exited the seal, binding all of the energy to his tenketsu and preventing him from expelling any of it. Instead it was trapped inside their shared body, searing them endlessly from within.

"Mother! Mother! I burn!" Gaara cried out.

Someone grabbed Naruto by the shoulder and threw him away from Gaara forcefully. The same moment Naruto landed Jiraiya was there above him, his expression grave. He drove a flat palm with curled fingers wreathed in chakra into Naruto's gut through Kyuubi's veil of chakra. The impact knocked the wind out of Naruto, and Jiraiya's fingers dug into his seal before twisting, like manipulating the dial of a safe. Kyuubi's shroud of chakra vanished, and with it the ancient rage and hate that threatened to overwhelm Naruto's mind.

"I told you not to use the Kyuubi's chakra," Jiraiya shouted at him. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Justice," Naruto replied when he could breathe, "justice for Sakura." Jiraiya said something else, but Naruto didn't hear it. Pain slammed into him from everywhere; every part of his body hurt. Blackness ate away at the edges of his vision, and he fell into oblivion.

* * *

Naruto woke to the sensation of sunlight on his face. He shielded his eyes as they opened, discovering the inside of an adobe building of the sort common across the Land of Wind. He sat up in a bed, the sheets falling away to reveal bandages shrouding his arms, chest and legs. Movement made him wince; his skin ached all over, and when he peeled back the bandage on his hand he saw that the skin was red and raw like a bad rash.

"So you're awake. How do you feel?" Naruto looked up to see Misa Shibaya sitting at his bedside, studying him curiously.

"Hurt… all over," Naruto coughed, discovering that his throat was as dry as the desert.

Misa picked up a juice box with a straw in it and held it up to Naruto's lips. He quickly drained the whole thing. "I'm not surprised you're still hurting," Misa commented once he was done. "Even with the painkillers I've given you, you essentially flayed off most of your own skin back there. Be very grateful that you were unconscious for the grafting and regeneration I had to do."

Naruto stared at her. "My skin? I don't… I don't understand."

"You covered yourself in your bijuu's power like a cloak," Misa told him. "According to your file you did it for a few seconds back on the war front, but this time you were shrouded for more than a minute, and you probably used more power." She leaned forward, his expression intent. "Maybe no one thought to explain this to you, but the Kyuubi's chakra is one of the most corrosive poisons in existence. I treated people who never fully recovered just from incidental contact on the day you were born. You'll recover; the Kyuubi's part of you after all. Genma, on the other hand…" she sighed.

"Genma? What happened to sensei?" Naruto demanded.

Misa looked at him oddly. "You don't remember; interesting. Do you remember anything of what happened in your confrontation with Gaara?"

Naruto closed his eyes; the memories were fuzzy. "I fought him," he said after a moment. "I… I did it. He won't hurt anyone again; neither will Shukaku."

"So you did," Misa replied. "Thanks for that, by the way. Avenging my apprentice, I mean. You did a marvelous job. That little shit's barely stopped screaming since we brought him in. The pain of having a bijuu's chakra sealed into his network like that must be excruciating." Misa's smile was crooked and cold. "I'd have just killed him, but this might be even better."

"What happened to sensei?" Naruto asked again.

"According to Jiraiya and Kakashi, Genma made the rather unwise choice to try and stop you from beating the Sabaku brat to death. You slashed him with the Kyuubi's chakra."

Naruto's heart sank. "I hurt sensei? Is he going to be okay?"

Misa shrugged. "Genma was quick enough that he didn't actually lose his arm, but only time will tell how much use of it he regains. The Kyuubi's chakra inhibits regeneration in the wounds it causes; you're the only one it heals."

"Oh… can I see him?" Naruto levered his legs over the side of the bed, but when he tried to stand they wouldn't hold his weight. He fell forward onto his hands and knees, grimacing at the pain it caused his tender skin.

Misa helped him up and eased him back into a seat on the bed. "Easy there, kid. You're still weak. You depleted your own chakra and what you're getting from the demon is going into healing your skin. Genma's not going anywhere; you can talk to him once you can walk. Here, drink this."

Misa offered Naruto a glass of water. He drank it, and felt his head going a bit fuzzy by the time he'd finished. "What…" he slurred.

"Something to help you sleep, kid," Misa told him as she eased his head back onto the pillow. "You'll feel better when you wake."

* * *

The next time Naruto drifted back to consciousness it was dark in the bedroom, but he knew immediately that he wasn't alone. Looking around, he felt even weaker than he had before, even moving his neck an effort. His skin didn't hurt anymore though, and the bandages had been removed. "Dr. Shibaya?" Naruto said.

"Sorry Naruto," the room's other occupant said from a chair in the corner of the room shrouded in shadows. "It's just me."

Naruto's eyes widened. "What did she dose me with?" he muttered. "I must be hallucinating."

That earned a wry chuckle. "You're on some meds? Maybe that will make this easier, then." The chair's occupant rose and stepped into the light of the moon from the window. Eyes without pupils studied Naruto, set below a forehead missing both a hitai-ate and the mark Naruto knew was beneath it.

Naruto sat up with difficulty. "Neji… you're dead."

Neji shook his head. "I'm not dead. It was a near thing – twice! – but I'm still very much alive." He reached into his pouch and removed something small and wrapped in cloth. He dropped in Naruto's lap with the air of someone shedding a burden very much undesired.

Naruto's hands shook when he felt the shape under the canvas. He unwrapped it with frenzied speed, revealing a bracelet that glowed faintly with orange and purple light as soon as he touched it. "Mom's bracelet… how?"

Neji sighed. "Sakura managed to use that damned thing to take us to the other world – Harry Potter's world – during the battle for Konoha when we would have died. But we were stranded there all this time."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "Sakura… Sakura's alive?" he managed weakly, feeling relieved and sick to his stomach at the same time at the thought.

Neji smirked. "Try to keep up, Naruto," he said. "Yes, Sakura's alive. She's still in that other world with Harry Potter blending in at that magical school of his and looking forward to the day you'll come rescue her. I honestly don't think you're worthy of that kind of faith, but there you have it." He studied Naruto critically. "I won't ask what you've done to have so little chakra that I don't think you could light a match, but once you're recovered I'd suggest you use that cursed bit of jewelry and go get her."

Naruto felt tears stinging his eyes, and he clutched the bracelet to his chest. "Thank… thank you, Neji."

Neji shrugged. "If you want to thank me, don't tell anyone I'm back." He tapped his forehead. "I've been given a second chance, and I'm not squandering it bleeding for Konoha or the parasites who rule the Hyuuga clan."

Naruto nodded. "Okay." Neji headed for the window through which he'd presumably entered the room, and Naruto called out. "How did you get here, if you were trapped in Harry's world?"

Neji paused, not turning back. "One of the conditions of my return was that I swore not to discuss the aid I received, and I honor my word. Goodbye, Naruto. I earnestly hope we never meet again." With that he vanished out the window and was gone.

Naruto sat alone and stared at the bracelet for a long time. _Sakura's alive. Mom's bracelet wasn't destroyed. I hurt sensei. I did that terrible thing to Gaara… and Sakura's still alive._ His thoughts buzzed around in his head, and before Naruto could stop it he was crying, sobs shaking his body. His vision blurred as he looked at his shaking hands, and for a moment he swore he could still see Gaara's blood on them. Or maybe it was Kivi's. He wasn't sure.


	48. Trading Spaces

Chapter Forty-Six: Trading Spaces

* * *

Cornelius Fudge rarely smoked at work. His secretary always gave him dirty looks if his office smelled of burning tobacco when she entered, so he only dipped into his box of expensive imported cigars when he was particularly pleased with himself. Today was one such day, however, so he carefully clipped the end of one of his finger-thick Cubans and lit it with a lick of flame from the tip of his wand. Puffing contentedly, he reflected on the most recent session of the Wizengamot.

In the immediate wake of the twin attacks on the Ministry by Dark Agents Unknown he'd faced an uncomfortable amount of pressure from various parties to Do Something. It was uncomfortable because Doing Nothing was Cornelius' preferred method of governance. Even more aggravating were the number of alarmists whispering that You-Know-Who was back, even though the only evidence of that was a handful of traumatized eyewitnesses who had seen an _image_ of the former Dark Lord conjured by his last surviving followers to trick them!

Very recently however the two problems – Do Something, and 'You-Know-Who is back' – had solved each other. Cornelius wasn't sure why Albus Dumbledore had come to him for such an odd favor, but in return for ensuring that a certain piece of legislation made it through the Wizengamot – taking all the credit for himself, of course – he'd convinced Dumbledore to make calming statements to the press in regards to some of the more alarmist speculation about You-Know-Who.

Cornelius was still smoking his celebratory cigar when a knock came on his door. His secretary opened it – giving him a gimlet eye for the haze in the air – and said, "Your two o'clock is here, Minister."

"Send her in, please," he replied, grinding out the butt of the cigar in his ashtray.

A moment later a plump, unattractive toad of a woman dressed in a nauseatingly pink outfit and carrying a handbag embroidered with images of cats entered Cornelius' office. Her nose wrinkled a bit as the cigar scent, but she said nothing about it as she sat down.

"Dolores, good to see you," he greeted her.

"A good day indeed," Dolores Umbridge replied with a simpering smile that did little to improve her appearance. "Why, the measures passed today were a long time coming, Minister. I assume that is why you wished to see me?"

Cornelius nodded. Dolores currently headed the Ministry's Department of Child Welfare, one of the departments affected by the new law. "You assume correctly. There are likely to be a number of new cases for your department to handle in the weeks to come, but there's one I'd like you to handle personally."

"Personally?" Umbridge said in surprise with a wrinkled nose. "I assure you Minister I have a number of excellent case officers if there is a specific individual demanding special attention."

" _Personally_ , Dolores," Cornelius said firmly. "I think you'll agree that the Boy who Lived is worthy of such attention."

Umbridge paused mid-protest, her eyes widening. After a moment she nodded shortly. "I'm listening, Minister."

* * *

Remus Lupin apparated to the edge of Elmwood and entered the small magical community closest to North Carolina's Outer Banks as he had dozens of times before. Just as Diagon Alley and other places in magical Britain preserved an older aesthetic of architecture, so Elmwood's buildings were deliberately anachronistic, styled to resemble homes and businesses as they appeared in America's colonial period. Even the style of dress of most of the American witches and wizards harkened back to that period, though many of the younger children wore modern Muggle garb and resembled tourists visiting a reenactment as they worked or played alongside their parents.

Entering Elmwood's small Floo Hall, Remus use one of the handful of open hearths there to make a jump to New York City, as Elmwood had no international hearths. In New York Remus made his way from the domestic to international hearths, but there he encountered a problem. The clerk inspected Remus' passport, shook his head and handed it back. "Sorry sir, there's a hold on your passport pertaining to any transit into Britain."

Remus blinked. "There must be some mistake; I just renewed my passport last year. I'm guardian to a young man who's expecting to be picked up and brought home after his end of term at Hogwarts. How can we resolve this?"

"You're the fourth hold with that code this week," the clerk replied sourly. "One of your aurors was sent over to talk to those affected. I'll page him."

The clerk waved his wand and Remus waited for a few anxious minutes, hoping for Kingsley or another auror who wasn't a complete ass. Unfortunately, the auror who appeared was a muscular, crew-cut blond who smirked unpleasantly as he approached. "Well, well, if it isn't the nerdy werewolf. Having a good time slumming it in the colonies Remus?"

"McCree," Remus replied through clenched teeth. "What's going on? Why is there a hold on my passport?"

"Well here's the thing," McCree said, clearly relishing the moment. "The Wizengamot's finally seen fit to get off their asses and draft some long overdue laws relating to the protection of proper wizards and witches from dark creatures and other assorted… mongrels. Specific to your case, the 'Protection of Wizarding Minors from Dark Influence Act' – recently passed – prohibits any dark creatures, regardless of legal status, from acting as caretaker or guardian to a magical child."

Remus' eyes narrowed. "That's ridiculous; the Ministry's Department of Child Welfare approved my guardianship in the wake of Harry's mother's passing."

"Well now it's been un-approved by a majority of the Wizengamot," McCree gloated. He thrust some paperwork at Remus, who snatched it out of his hands and skimmed over the contents.

It was indeed a rather official-looking form notifying Remus that his supervision of Harry Potter had been taken over by the Ministry. It was signed at the end – in pink ink – by someone named Dolores Umbridge, and there was another line below it waiting for his signature in acknowledgement of the decree. "I'm not signing this," Remus said in disgust.

McCree shrugged. "Up to you, fur ball," he said smugly. "But the hold on your passport stays until you do sign. Just to make sure you don't try anything stupid. Mail those papers to the Ministry if you change your mind."

Remus firmly repressed the overwhelming desire to do something rather unpleasant to McCree as he walked away. It wouldn't help him or Harry. _Harry… damn it. Hold on, we're coming._ Remus took the Floo back to Elmwood, seething and planning at the same time. _The Ministry's delusional if they think I'm leaving Harry in their care. Or if they think we can't get into Britain simply because they've blocked the official means._

Remus promptly apparated back to Corolla to let Sirius know they had a trip to plan. When he arrived, however, Sirius was sitting at the kitchen table and Harry's white owl Hedwig was on her perch looking disgruntled and preening a number of scorched tail feathers. Sirius was studying a handful of burned pieces of parchment.

"What the hell?" Remus exclaimed.

"Back already Remus? Where's Harry?" Sirius asked.

Remus filled Sirius in on his aborted trip to Britain and his conversation with McCree. Sirius growled under his breath. "Damn it… well clearly Harry sent Hedwig to us with a letter, but someone took a shot at her. There were a few burned scraps in her claws, but nothing legible." Sirius looked up at Hedwig, stroking her feathers gently. "Wish you could tell us what he meant to say."

Remus sighed, scrubbing his face with his hands. "That boy's going to give us both gray hair before our time. We need to sneak into Britain and find out what happened to him."

Sirius nodded with a crooked grin. "Agreed; the Ministry's delusional if they thing they can keep the Marauders out with a _law_."

* * *

Harry Potter sat in a conference room in the Ministry of Magic, simmering with irritation. No sooner had the Hogwarts' Express arrived at Platform 9 ¾ than he'd been pulled off of the train by aurors and brought directly to the Ministry. Infuriatingly, they wouldn't tell him exactly why. Glancing across the table, Harry saw the worry on Sakura's drawn face. In the wake of their confrontation with Ginny, none of them had been able to find any trace of Neji, and Sakura was deeply concerned for her missing companion. With their unexplained detention, she had to be wondering what was happening, just like he was.

As if summoned by the thought, the conference room's door opened, and a dumpy-looking older woman in clothes as pink as Sakura's hair entered the room, favoring the two of them with a simpering smile before sitting down. "Harry Potter, and… Sakura Haruno?" The woman opened a folder and perused the papers inside for a moment. "Shouldn't you be returning home, dear?"

"Sakura's family already arranged for her to spend the summer with mine," Harry replied quickly. "What's going on, ma'am? My uncle Remus was supposed to pick me up from the train station."

"Hem hem," she cleared her throat. "Well… I'm Dolores Umbridge, and I've been assigned as your advocate, Mr. Potter. I'm afraid it won't be possible for you to travel to the Americas with… Remus Lupin, is it? By order of the Ministry he's been declared unfit to be your guardian."

Harry's eyes widened in shock. "What? Why?"

"Well… he's a werewolf, dear," Umbridge explained carefully, as if to a particularly slow child. "Barely fit to be a part of society, much less to raise a magical child."

"You know, half of Britain talks like that," Harry replied angrily. "I've been raised by a werewolf, and my best friend's another, and neither of them has ever harmed me. Meanwhile, plenty of 'proper, pureblooded' wizards who like dark robes and skull tattoos have tried to kill me. Remind me why I'm in danger from my uncle again?"

"Hem hem," Umbridge coughed. "Well be that as it may, Remus Lupin will not be assuming responsibility for you. The Wizengamot has outlawed all cases such as yours, leaving my colleagues and I with the task of finding homes for you and others in your situation."

Still burning with anger, Harry nodded shortly. "Fine; can I send my owl to Arthur and Molly Weasley?" Hedwig's cage was in the corner on top of his luggage. He was fairly sure Ron's family wouldn't mind putting him up for the summer until this mess was straightened out. He could certainly compensate them for the trouble.

Umbridge's face became even more unpleasant at Harry's mention of the Weasleys, and she shook her head. "That won't be necessary, dear," she assured him. "You'll be pleased to hear that I've already located a… far more suitable family for you to foster with."

"Really, and who is that?" Harry asked through clenched teeth.

Umbridge put her paperwork back in her handbag and stood up. "I'm sure you'll be honored to hear that Lord Greengrass himself offered to foster you upon hearing of your situation. He will be arriving shortly to pick you up. His eldest daughter Daphne is one of your classmates, I believe."

Harry suppressed a feeling of alarm. He did know Daphne Greengrass; she was a pureblood and a Slytherin who spent plenty of time around Draco Malfoy. Her father was probably also a pureblood and a Slytherin, and might very well be chummy with Lucius Malfoy.

"No," Harry said firmly.

Umbridge blinked. "Beg your pardon?"

"I'm not going anywhere with anyone named Greengrass. Did you not hear the whole part about purebloods with, shall we say, 'dark' pasts trying to kill me?"

"Mr. Potter, the Greengrass family is one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight," Umbridge said, aghast. "Your fears are ridiculously misplaced."

"Doesn't matter; I'm not going with him."

"I'm afraid you have no choice, Mr. Potter," Umbridge said firmly. "You are a minor child, and as such I cannot turn you out on the streets with no one to supervise you."

"I had a 'supervisor' until the Wizengamot took him away," Harry fumed. "In my uncle's absence I'm confident the Weasleys – or the Grangers – would be willing to 'look after me' if you'd just contact them."

"Out of the question, I'm afraid," Umbridge said curtly. "Lord Greengrass has already been approved, and certainly has more than adequate means to see to your welfare until you are of age to be recognized as _the_ Potter. The Weasleys on the other hand can barely support their existing brood, and the Grangers are _Muggles_ , with a werewolf child to boot; completely unsuitable. As I said, Lord Greengrass will arrive shortly."

Umbridge gave Sakura a sidelong glance. "We'll see if he will consent to host your foreigner friend as well. In the meantime, I believe I'll be reviewing her paperwork to make sure everything is in order." Umbridge offered Sakura a creepy smile. "I love what you've done with your hair, dear, by the by. Both of you stay here until I return with Lord Greengrass." With that Umbridge swept out of the room, and Harry glimpsed aurors standing guard outside before the door slammed behind her.

"Harry, I have to get out of here," Sakura whispered as soon as they were alone. "What if she figures out those papers Remus cooked up are forgeries? She might even contact someone in that country I'm supposedly from, and then the whole thing falls apart!"

"We both have to get out of here," Harry agreed grimly. "I don't know if Lord Greengrass is actually a Death Eater, but even if he isn't, his social circle is full of them. I don't like my chances of _surviving_ at his house."

Unfortunately getting out of the conference room proved to be a challenge. Innocently opening the door under the pretext of needing to use the bathroom, Sakura returned minutes later looking frustrated. "It's like they're expecting you to try to run," she whispered. "There are a lot of adult wizards out there, and two of the witches even followed me into the ladies' room!"

Harry, who had been studying the room's only window, nodded glumly. "There are a lot of wards on this," he said. "I could break it, but they'd know as soon as I did." His face fell. "I'm sorry, Sakura, I don't know how we're going to get out of here." He hesitated. "We could _try_ to fight our way out," he offered.

Sakura sighed and shook his head. "No; there's too many of them and they're too alert." She thought about it. "I think I'll just have to hope that Umbridge creature doesn't dig too deeply. If this Lord Greengrass takes both of us out of the Ministry we can escape from him then and figure out how to get to your home across the ocean from there."

Dejected, Harry and Sakura settled down to await news of their fates. After about fifteen minutes, Harry felt a slight tingling along his magical field. "Harry? Harry, are you there?"

Harry sat up straight, eyes widening. Sakura glanced at him. "It's Naruto," Harry whispered. "I hear him."

Sakura's eyes lit up. "Bring him across!" she exclaimed.

"Harry, summon me if you can," Naruto was saying as the same time.

Harry stood and drew his wand. "Aperto Mundo Pontem!" This time the drain on his magic was far less as the other side of the link took on half of the load. Space swirled oddly in front of Harry, and Naruto appeared with a 'pop' of displaced air, looking as he had previously except that his metal headband was missing and the marks across his cheeks seemed more prominent than before.

Naruto saw Sakura, and he wrapped her up in a hug so tight she squeaked in surprise. "Naruto!" she exclaimed.

"You're alive, you're alive, you're alive," Naruto kept saying, and Harry was startled to see that the blond was crying.

"Naruto, my ribs," Sakura protested. "Of course I'm alive," she added when he loosened his grip, hugging him back. "Glad to see you," she added.

"Everyone thought you were dead," Naruto sniffled as he took a step back. "Haku and a bunch of civilians saw Shukaku 'kill' you!"

Sakura's eyes widened. "Oh…" she murmured. "Well… I'm okay. Is Konoha okay?"

"Umm, guys," Harry interjected, "we don't really have time to catch up."

"Right," Sakura murmured. "Naruto, we need to get out of here before that horrid witch comes back."

"Where is this?" Naruto asked, looking around for the first time.

"The Ministry of Magic," Harry explained. "They're intent on handing me over to someone who might be an enemy, and Sakura's cover is probably blown at this point."

"Well I can take Sakura back to Konoha, but what about you, Harry?" Naruto said in concern.

"Well… with Naruto here maybe we _could_ fight our way out?" Sakura suggested, but Naruto winced.

"I'd rather not if the folks here aren't bad guys," Naruto admitted. "I've… learned some hard lessons since you've been gone about hasty plans and collateral damage."

Harry studied Sakura for a moment; Sakura, who had spent so much time recently in his world. "This may be crazy," Harry said slowly, "but what if Naruto brings both of us to Konoha?"

Sakura and Naruto both stared. "But… wouldn't you be stranded just like I was?" Sakura objected.

"Haku and I would be happy to host you," Naruto added, "but our world isn't the safest place for someone without chakra – even if you have magic."

"It's got to be safer than moving in with a maybe-Death Eater," Harry replied, "and I wouldn't be stranded if someone summons us back. We know the spell that brings the bracelet's holder here worked without you on your end, so there's no reason it can't work without me on this end. Ron and Hermione helped me summon Sakura and Neji, after all."

"But how will they know to summon you back?" Sakura pointed out.

Harry rummaged through his luggage, getting out parchment and quill. "Hermione's smart; she'd figure it out. But just to make sure they do it quickly I'll send Hedwig with a letter to let Remus and Sirius know where I've gone. Ron and Hermione know the spell, and with Naruto back on the other end to help they'd have more than enough magical power. Shouldn't take them long at all to get together and bring us back."

As Harry started writing, Sakura turned to Naruto. "About Neji," she said. "He made it here with me… but he went missing just recently. I don't know where he is."

Naruto blinked. "Well… you can't tell anyone back in Konoha, but Neji's fine. He made it back on his own somehow. He's the one who recovered the bracelet and told me you were still alive."

Sakura's jaw dropped. "That ass," she growled. "He found another way back? Why didn't he tell me?"

Naruto shrugged. "He wouldn't tell me, and I was too grateful to press the point."

Harry finished his letter, got Hedwig out of her cage and gave it to her. "The folks outside are going to try to get in here once I blow this window open," he warned. Sakura and Naruto exchanged a glance and then picked up the heavy conference table in a display of shinobi strength, moving it to block the door from opening.

Taking a deep breath, Harry drew his wand again and cast a blasting hex on the window. It exploded outward, and alarms started blaring immediately. The doorknob rattled and he heard shouts outside the conference room. "Go to Sirius and Remus," Harry shouted to his owl over the din. "Give them my letter!" Hedwig bobbed her head and took wing, flying out the window. The door shuddered and splintered as it was attacked from the outside. Harry grabbed his luggage; Naruto grabbed Harry and Sakura and then closed his eyes. "Hang on!" he called out, and then the world collapsed around them.

* * *

"Faster! Get it down faster!" Dolores Umbridge shouted at the aurors as they reduced the door of the room Harry Potter had been in to kindling and blasted the table across the room. She rushed in after them, and stared in dismay. Harry Potter and that Sakura girl – whose visa had been forged and whose supposed government had never heard of her – were gone!

Movement out the window caught Umbridge's eye. Rushing over, she saw the tail end of Harry's white owl soaring away. "Oh no you don't," she growled. Drawing her wand, she hurled a burning hex at it. The pale bird, damn its reflexes, swerved at the last moment and avoided being killed, but the spell still singed her tail and Umbridge was heartened to see the letter the owl carried catching fire as she soared out of spell range. Whatever half-baked plea Harry had been sending to the Weasleys or Grangers wouldn't be heard.

Whirling to the aurors, Umbridge fumed at them. "Well don't just stand there!" she yelled. "He's fourteen; he didn't apparate out of here! Lock the building down and find those two! Find them now!"


	49. Fourth Interlude: Whispers in the Dark

Interlude Four: Whispers in the Dark

"The Ones Below have grown too bold, my friend. They continue to violate the spirit of the Law."

"Agreed, but how might we correct their folly? We are bound by the word of the Law. They were warned; what more can we do?"

"There is much we can do within the constraints of the Law. For instance…"

"That is an interesting construct, old friend. But will the Ones Above not object? If those who have _earned_ the means to bridge the stars were to discover it…"

"Why would they? My domain is one they avoid even coming near; they fear what sleeps within."

"You would make this alternation to your domain, then?"

"I will. We cannot prevent the most blatant of the abuses perpetrated by the Ones Below, but their very fear makes that abuse rare. Their bridge built on stolen knowledge is the true problem. I will do what I must to bring their antics to an end."

"One moment; I sense an imbalance in your favor. It is small, but it is there. The Ones Below have created it. Will you not wait until we are in balance?"

"I sense it too, my friend, but do we dare risk the imbalance growing more rather than less? The Ones Below are reckless."

"...very well. I will accept the imbalance. Do what you must."

"It is done."

"Then let us see what comes of this construct of yours. The Law Above All."

"The Law Above All."


	50. Time Marches On

Chapter Forty-Seven: Time Marches On

* * *

"Aperto Mundo Pontem!"

"Hermione, give it a rest…"

"Aperto Mundo Pontem!"

"Hermione…"

"Ronald, must you do this every time?"

"Hermione, you're the smartest witch I know, so I'm confident you can tell me what the definition of insanity is."

"'Doing the same thing and expecting different results.' Yes Ronald, I'm familiar with the quote, _and_ to whom it is popularly misattributed."

"So why are you doing it? That damned spell doesn't work, love! I'd give anything to see it work just one more time. We all would. But it doesn't."

"I will continue to cast this spell every so often because we still don't know _why_ it no longer succeeds. That means we also don't know when or if it will succeed again."

"And what if it was never meant to work without Harry casting it, or at least participating?"

"Because, Ronald, if that was the case then speaking the words and moving my wand wouldn't do anything. But something does happen. The spell initiates, starts to draw on my magic… and then fizzles without any result. That doesn't happen when a spell isn't workable. It happens when a spell is being blocked, by a ward or another wizard."

"But there is no ward and there is no other wizard. You and Remus have done everything short of summoning a demon to figure out what's blocking the spell, and you've come up dry."

"I'm not going to stop trying, Ronald."

"You wouldn't be the witch I love if you gave up Hermione, but can you stop for tonight and come to bed? After what happened last year it's going to be all hands on deck tomorrow. We both need to be rested and ready in case You-Know-Who and his cronies decide to pull something again."

"All right."

* * *

Making his way through the gardens of the country manor house that served as one of the gathering points for the Order of the Phoenix, Remus Lupin found Sirius Black exactly where he'd expected to. One of the house's previous owners had commissioned an outdoor chapel in the corner of the gardens, festooned with statues of weeping angels and surrounded by mature trees.

Sirius knelt in the grass, his head bowed, unmoving. He'd brought a large number of candles out with him and lit them all in a row on the altar. Remus silently joined his friend kneeling in the damp grass.

"Why do you do this to yourself every year, Sirius?" Remus asked after they'd remained still in silence for almost an hour.

"Why do you think?" Sirius replied quietly. "The stakes of the war we're fighting are high; I take this time to remind myself of the price of failure."

"Damn it Sirius, take off the hair shirt already. _You did not fail_!" Remus exclaimed with some exasperation.

"Where is James then?" Sirius shot back, his head rising to fix Remus with a gaze that burned with guilt, unfocused anger and not a small amount of fire whiskey. "Where is his son, Remus? I failed both of them!"

"You didn't fail Harry," Remus said firmly. "You raised him just as well as James could have. More to the point, Harry is not dead. We know this. He may be separated from us, but he _is not dead_."

"That is what you and your clever little apprentice _believe_ ," Sirius spat. "What evidence do you have to show after all this time?"

"Hedwig is still alive," Remus reminded his oldest friend. "Familiars rarely survive their masters by more than a few months. She's still healthy after four years."

"But familiars surviving, thriving and even taking new masters has happened before," Sirius countered. "I'm not the scholar you are, but I know that. Forgive me if an _owl_ continuing to eat and shit doesn't fill me with great comfort." Sirius lowered his head again. "Forgive me," he whispered, and Remus knew his friend was not talking to anyone present.

Giving up on the familiar argument once more, Remus did the only thing he could; he stayed with his friend until the sun started to stain the eastern horizon with its light. Finally, Sirius rose to his feet, rubbing dew and grass stains from his knees. Crossing the space between him and the altar, he carefully snuffed out the candles with his fingers, one by one. When Sirius had extinguished all eighteen he stared at them for a moment. "Happy Birthday, Harry," he whispered before turning away and trudging back toward the manor.

"You didn't fail him, Sirius," Remus said to no one but the empty morning air. "He will come back to us." It was something Remus believed because he had to. There was no other choice.

* * *

 _Translated from German_

"Please! Please no more, I surrender!"

"Then talk, you miserable piece of shit! Where is she? Where is Bellatrix Black?"

"Britain's Dark Lady? Please, please, I don't know!"

"I think you do. What you probably don't know is how many bones are in the human hand."

"What? I don't underst- AAAGH!"

"Twenty-seven; the answer is twenty-seven bones in the human hand. You're down to twenty-six intact, Heinrich."

"Oh god, it hurts… please I don't- AAAAAHH!"

"Twenty-five; that's going to make wand movements hard for a while. Finger bones generally heal cleanly. The bones down here in the base of the hand, though? If they're crushed, say by being stuck in a door jamb like this one and having it slammed shut repeatedly? They usually don't heal right, and there's nerve damage to boot. Manual dexterity in that hand goes to shit even if it's treated by someone skilled in the healing arts."

"Oh god no! Please fraulein, please believe me I will tell you anything but I do not know where Bellatrix Black is!"

"Give me something, Heinrich! Your backroom has the only unregistered Floo hearths this side of Berlin, and I know Bellatrix and a number of Death Eaters were spotted here in Germany. _Where are they?_ "

"Death Eaters? Fellows with a fondness for masks and ominous tattoos on their arms? Yes, yes! Three of that sort came through my establishment last week; all men. I sent them on their way."

"Where, Heinrich? Every smuggler of magical goods I've talked to says you're a virtuoso at tapping into the international Floo Network without leaving a trail. Where did you send them?"

"Beijing! They wanted to go to China without any official notice of their passage. They didn't say why and I don't ask questions when my customers have gold. Please, I have a family…"

"Once upon a time, I did too. I'm going to follow up on this Heinrich, and if I don't find what I'm looking for I'll be back to make sure you never cast a spell or pleasure yourself with that hand again."

"Oh god no-"

 _THUD_

"Dramatic, Kushina, but was it necessary?"

"Stop whining, Severus; it's just a concussion. I found another lead, didn't I? Besides, if you're not going to let me kill Dumbledore I have to work out my frustrations somehow. Gutting that bitch Bellatrix will be at least a momentary pleasure."

"I'm not letting you kill Dumbledore, that's correct."

"He deserves it, Severus! He got that stupid law passed, and if he hadn't… if he hadn't…"

"Whatever happened in the Ministry that day was not the Headmaster's intent. You've been at Hogwarts and you've seen the toll it's taken on him."

"I don't give a damn if he feels guilty, Severus, I want his blood!"

"You can't have it. I let you kill Dolores Umbridge for her part in that mess. I let you terrorize the damned Minister of Magic until he had a very public nervous breakdown. But with the Dark Lord's return Britain needs Albus Dumbledore now more than ever."

"Britain needs Albus Dumbledore like it needs a second asshole, Severus. But for now, it looks like we're headed to China."

"So it would seem."

"I'll kill Bellatrix with a smile, and I'll find a way to erase that noseless shade Moldyvort. When I do, you'd best keep your word, Severus."

"I will. On the day the Dark Lord is truly vanquished, I will release you from my prohibition against harming the Headmaster… and the chips will fall where they may."

* * *

"Well done." Kakashi offered an eye-smile and clapped his hands. "You've all improved a great deal as a squad. I'd say you're more than ready."

Panting and sweating under the midday sun, Harry Potter grinned at his friends and frequent teammates. Naruto Uzumaki's outfit – scuffed, torn in places and grass-stained in others – still contained more orange than any other shinobi wore, but the accent swatches were black now rather than blue. He still wore his hair the same way, but at eighteen he'd put on a lot more muscle, bulking out noticeably even under his loose clothes. The irrepressible light in his blue eyes was the same as the first time Harry had met him.

"So we can enter the jounin evaluations?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Well you and Sakura can, certainly," Kakashi replied.

"But Harry's part of our team," Naruto objected.

Sakura Haruno smacked Naruto upside the head, and scowled when he gave her a wounded look. "Harry can't enter a jounin evaluation any more than he could take the Chuunin Exam, Naruto," she fumed. "He doesn't need that kind of scrutiny. There's a reason he doesn't have a rank other than 'Agent of the Hokage'; that position doesn't require public or peer-reviewed demonstrations of skill."

Harry couldn't help smiling as he watched Sakura lecture Naruto. She wore the same style of armor as her first suit at thirteen, but five years later she'd outgrown several sets, and the body under the dark green composite plates was undeniably a woman's, curving outward at her hips and chest.

For his part, Harry wore a tunic, loose trousers and reinforced sandals like Naruto's. He no longer wore glasses over his emerald eyes, having submitted to vision correction by a shinobi medic who specialized in optical care. He'd put on some muscle just like Naruto, but even working out regularly he was still skinnier than the blond, though he was also half a head was taller. His only unusual adornment was a bracer on his right arm. The outside half sported an armor plate, while the leather covering the underside of his forearm hid his secret weapon and most valuable possession: his wand.

"That's fine Naruto," Harry offered. "I don't need a title or a badge to know where I belong. Besides, Sakura's right. To earn that kind of promotion I'd have to show way too many senior jounin what I'm really capable of. I'm happy with the conspiracy staying small and my abilities unknown."

Stretching his aching muscles, a jangling reminded Harry of the silver bell in his hand, and he grinned again. Getting it away from Kakashi hadn't been easy. As a part of 'the conspiracy', the silver-haired Copy Ninja knew about Harry's magic and how to avoid losing a bell to a simple 'Accio' Charm.

"Well I'm roasting after a workout like that," Sakura announced, tapping her breastplate. "I'm going to cool off before I head back to the village."

"That's fine, but hurry and catch up; we can't celebrate at Ichiraku's without everyone there," Naruto told her.

"You really should hurry," Kakashi advised Sakura. "If you don't, Ichiraku might actually run out of food," Kakashi jerked his thumb at Naruto, leaving little doubt on whom the blame for such an event would fall.

Sakura laughed. "I'll try to be quick," she promised before taking a footpath to the north.

"Coming, Harry?" Naruto asked.

"I'll catch up," Harry replied. "Need to stretch a bit more first."

"Okay, see you there!"

Harry did indeed stretch until Kakashi and Naruto were gone. Then he set off down the same path Sakura had taken. It didn't take him very long to arrive at the base of a small cliff. A natural spring above issued a constant stream of cool, clear water that fell over the stone lip to fill a sparkling pool nestled amid tall, mature trees of the forest outside Konoha.

Harry emerged from the trees to see Sakura's armor pieces and padded under-suit arranged neatly on a rock next to the pool. The pink-haired kunoichi herself had waded out into the water and was standing under the flow from above to rinse off the day's sweat and dirt, her back to him.

"Harry James Potter, are you aware of what kunoichi do to men who peep on them while they bathe?" Sakura called out without turning around.

"Something dreadful and dire, I'm sure," Harry said as he tugged off his own sweat-damp clothes, "the kind of fate to inspire fear and cringes; weeping, even."

"Mmm-hmm," Sakura replied. "You don't sound nearly as scared as you should be."

"Well that's because I'm not peeping on a kunoichi while she bathes," Harry said solemnly as he waded in himself, his feet skipping across submerged rocks to reach Sakura. "I'm _joining_ the loveliest kunoichi in Konoha for a bath." Stepping under the spray from above Harry slipped his arms around her waist.

"Mmh," Sakura purred, leaning back against his chest. "Flattery, Mr. Potter, will get you _everywhere_. I suppose I can overlook your trespass just this once." Turning around in his arms, Sakura tilted her head back, slipped her own arms around Harry's neck, and drew him down into a kiss.

Harry reflected for a moment that while he missed so many things from Earth – Ron and Hermione, Remus and Sirius, quidditch, the company of other witches and wizards, _technology_ – the Elemental Nations had at least one thing he could find nowhere else: a precious friend who had become so much more.

Sakura, who knew him so well now, must have seen something of his thoughts in his eyes. Her expression was concerned and understanding when she drew back, her fingers brushing across his cheek and the faded scar over his left eye. "You're thinking about home," she whispered.

"My home is here now Sakura," he replied, "with you. We just bought it, remember?"

She smiled at his weak attempt at humor. "Liar," she murmured.

"I mean it, Sakura," Harry told her. "Haku and Naruto welcomed me into their home. Kakashi, Jiraiya, Tsunade and the others made a place for me here in Konoha. But you… you made this place _my_ home." Sakura's eyes widened, and then she was kissing him again, passionately.

"But yes, I was thinking about Earth," Harry admitted when their lips finally parted. "I always do, this time of year. I just wish… that I could see them again. Talk to them. Hell, I'd settle for being able to just let them know that I'm okay. That I'm happy here, that I have a place… that I've found someone to love."

"Oh, Harry," Sakura said softly. "They know you're a survivor, how strong and resourceful you were – are! – and you sent Hedwig to tell them where you'd gone. No one could have anticipated Aunt Lily's bracelet failing like it did."

Harry sighed and nodded. Just weeks after his arrival in Konoha, when he'd begun to worry that maybe Remus and Sirius hadn't gotten his letter, the light of Naruto's bracelet had died abruptly, all traces of magic and chakra leaving it. In the intervening years, tarnish had spread across its silver surfaces despite diligent polishing; the last time Harry had looked at it, most of the designs were illegible. Harry didn't know what all that signified, and with his birth mother still a captive of the Akatsuki there was no one to ask. Haku remembered Lily's experiments, but he had no real understanding of magic.

"I do remember what time of year it is," Sakura said, bringing him back to the present, "and if it will take extraordinary efforts to distract you… I'm up to the challenge." Beckoning to Harry with one finger, Sakura stepped back through the small waterfall. Harry followed her into the alcove beyond where soft moss grew thick on the flat stones and the sun's light was split into every color of the rainbow and set to dancing across the walls by the cascade of water.

Sakura lay back on the moss and pulled him down to join her. "Happy birthday, Harry," she whispered sweetly in his ear.


End file.
